banking topics of interest

Disclaimer: The information furnished is collected from various sources / websites. Though to the best of our knowledge and belief, the contents are correct, the author, accepts no responsibility for authenticity or accuracy. The reading material has been provided to serve as a reference guide while preparing for exams and promotion. Readers are requested to refer the relevant Circulars, guidelines, notifications and Book of instructions for a detailed view and for Job Knowledge / Work applications.

V. Ranga Prasad CCD II, C.O.

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Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 2

INDEX No. Topic Page no. 01. BPLR vs Base Rate 3 02. BASLE COMMITTEE 8 03. COMMODITIES TRADING 21 04. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 25 05. CIBIL 26 06. HEDGE FUNDS 28 07. HEDGING 29 08. MONETARY AND CREDIT POLICY of RBI 31 09. Money Laundering 32 10. PARTICIPATORY NOTES 34 11. SARFAESI 36 12. UNIVERSAL BANKING 38 13. BONDS AND DEBENTURES 40 14. CBLO 43 15. CRR, SLR, BANK RATE, REPO, REVERSE REPO 45 16. INDIAN DEBT MARKET 47 17. DERIVATIVES 48 18. DIVIDEND STRIPPING 51 19. Exchange Traded Funds 52 20. INDEX FUTURES 53 21. MONEY MARKET 54 22. MUTUAL FUNDS 57 23. VALUATION OF SECURITIES 63 24. TREASURY – STOCK MARKET 64 25. SWEAT EQUITY 73 26. RAROC Pricing / Economic Profit 74 27. TREASURY OPERATIONS 77 28. VALUE AT RISK ( VaR ) 78 29. YIELD TO MATURITY ( YTM ) 83 30. COMMERCIAL PAPER 86 31. 2nd Narasimham Committee 91 32. ASSET RECONSTRUCTION COMPANY 95 33. CREDIT RATING 97 34. Securitization 99 35. ADR & GDR 102 36. INDIAN BUDGET 105 37. CAMELS 108 38. PROMPT CORRECTIVE ACTION 110 39. NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS 114 40. Balance Sheet 116 41. FUND FLOW STATEMENT AND CASH FLOW STATEMENT 130


BPLR vs Base Rate

What is BPLR ? What does BPLR stands for in banking? What is the full form of BPLR? What is Benchmark Prime Lending Rate? In banking parlance, the BPLR means the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate. BPLR is the interest rate that commercial banks normally charge (or we can say they are expected to charge) their most credit-worthy customers. Although as per Reserve Bank of India rules, Banks are free to fix Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) for credit limits over Rs.2 lakh with the approval of their respective Boards yet BPLR has to be declared and made uniformly applicable at all the branches. The banks may authorize their Asset-Liability Management Committee (ALCO) to fix interest rates on Deposits and Advances, subject to their reporting to the Board immediately thereafter. The banks should also declare the maximum spread over BPLR with the approval of the ALCO/Board for all advances. Whether BPLR is a good benchmark for fixing pricing of the loans? For a long time, this has been debatable question. The BPLR varied from Bank to Bank. Moreover, the variation was quite wide, stretching over 4% sometimes. Therefore, a lot of debate has been going for last few years to replace the same with a new benchmark. The Working Group set up on Benchmark Price Lending Rate (BPLR)in its report submitted in October, 2009, has also strongly felt that “The BPLR has tended to be out of sync with market conditions and does not adequately respond to changes in monetary policy. In addition, the tendency of banks to lend at sub-BPLR rates on a large scale raises concerns of transparency…..On account of competitive pressures, banks were lending at rates which did not make much commercial sense” Therefore, the Group was of the view that the extant benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) system has fallen short of expectations in its original intent of enhancing transparency in lending rates charged by banks and needs to be modified. Why RBI wanted to replace the existing system of BPLR? What prompted RBI to set up Working Group for review of BPLR? While initiating the move to replace the existing system of BPLR, RBI felt that the existing lending rate system had lost relevance and hindered effective transmission of monetary policy signals. For example, RBI reduced its its benchmark lending rate by 425 basis points in the last one year, but banks reduced their BPLR by about 200 basis point cut. This was mainly because bulk of their lending was below their BPLR. Although, prime rates (read BPLR) of Indian banks ranged between 11 percent and 15.75 percent, yet three-fourths of their total loans are made below these levels because of competitive pressures in the fragmented banking sector. The panel said while market conditions may necessitate lending below the base rate, the need may be only for a short term. Besides, to ensure that such lending does not proliferate, it should not exceed 15 percent What is Working Group on BPLR? Who is the Chairman of BPLR Working Group? What were the terms of reference to the BPLR Group? The Reserve Bank announced the constitution of the Working Group on Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) in the Annual Policy Statement of 2009-10 (Chairman: Shri Deepak Mohanty) to review the BPLR system and suggest changes to make credit pricing more transparent. The Working Group was assigned the following terms of reference (i) to review the concept of BPLR and the manner of its computation; (ii) to examine the extent of sub-

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 4 BPLR lending and the reasons thereof; (iii) to examine the wide divergence in BPLRs of major banks; (iv) to suggest an appropriate loan pricing system for banks based on international best practices; (v) to review the administered lending rates for small loans up to Rs 2 lakh and for exporters; (vi) to suggest suitable benchmarks for floating rate loans in the retail segment; and (vii) consider any other issue relating to lending rates of banks. What are the main recommendations of the BPLR group ? The main recommendations of the Group are

• After carefully examining the various possible options, views of various stakeholders from industry associations and those received from the public, and international best practices, the Group is of the view that there is merit in introducing a system of Base Rate to replace the existing BPLR system.

• The proposed Base Rate will include all those cost elements which can be clearly identified and are common across borrowers. The constituents of the Base Rate would include (i) the card interest rate on retail deposit (deposits below Rs. 15 lakh) with one year maturity (adjusted for CASA deposits); (ii) adjustment for the negative carry in respect of CRR and SLR; (iii) unallocatable overhead cost for banks which would comprise a minimum set of overhead cost elements; and (iv) average return on net worth.

• The actual lending rates charged to borrowers would be the Base Rate plus borrower-specific charges, which will include product-specific operating costs,credit risk premium and tenor premium.

• The Working Group has worked out an illustrative methodology for computing the base rate for the banks. According to this methodology with representative data for the year 2008-09, the illustrative Base Rate works out to 8.55 per cent.

• With the proposed system of Base Rate, there will not be a need for banks to lend below the Base Rate as the Base Rate represents the bare minimum rate below which it will not be viable for the banks to lend. The Group, however, also recognises certain situations when lending below the Base Rate may be necessitated by market conditions. This may occur when there is a large surplus liquidity in the system and banks instead of deploying funds in the LAF window of the Reserve Bank may prefer to lend at rates lower than their respective Base Rates. The Group is of the view that the need for such lending may arise as an exception only for very short-term periods. Accordingly, the Base Rate system recommended by the Group will be applicable for loans with maturity of one year and above (including all working capital loans).

• Banks may give loans below one year at fixed or floating rates without reference to the Base Rate. However, in order to ensure that sub-Base Rate lending does not proliferate, the Group recommends that such sub-Base Rate lending in both the priority and non-priority sectors in any financial year should not exceed 15 per cent of the incremental lending during the financial year. Of this, non-priority sector sub-Base Rate lending should not exceed 5 per cent. That is, the overall sub-Base Rate lending during a financial year should not exceed 15 per cent of their incremental lending, and banks will be free to extend entire sub-Base Rate lending of up to 15 per cent to the priority sector.

• At present, at least ten categories of loans can be priced without reference to BPLR. The Group recommends that such categories of loans may be linked to the Base Rate except interest rates on (a) loans relating to selective credit control,


(b) credit card receivables (c) loans to banks’ own employees; and (d) loans under DRI scheme.

• The Base Rate could also serve as the reference benchmark rate for floating rate loan products, apart from the other external market benchmark rates.

• In order to increase the flow of credit to small borrowers, administered lending rate for loans up to Rs. 2 lakh may be deregulated as the experience reveals that lending rate regulation has dampened the flow of credit to small borrowers and has imparted downward inflexibility to the BPLRs. Banks should be free to lend to small borrowers at fixed or floating rates, which would include the Base Rate and sector-specific operating cost, credit risk premium and tenor premium as in the case of other borrowers.

• The interest rate on rupee export credit should not exceed the Base Rate of individual banks. As export credit is of short-term in nature and exporters are generally wholesale borrowers, there is need to incentivise export credit for exporters to be globally competitive. By this change in stipulation of pricing of export credit, exporters can still access rupee export credit at lower rates as the Base Rate envisaged is expected to be significantly lower than the BPLRs. The Base Rate based on the methodology suggested by the Group is comparable with the present lending rate of 9.5 per cent charged by the banks to most exporters. The proposed system will also be more flexible and competitive.

• At present the interest rates on education loans are linked to ceilings with reference to the BPLR. In view of the critical role played by education loans in developing human resource skills, the interest rate on these loans may continue be administered. However, in view of the fact that the Base Rate is expected to be significantly lower than BPLR, the Group recommends that there is a need to change the mark up. Accordingly, the Group recommends that the interest rates on all education loans may not exceed the average Base Rate of five largest banks plus 200 basis points. Even with this stipulation, the actual lending rates for education loans would be lower than the current rates prevailing. The information on the average Base Rate should be disseminated by IBA on a quarterly basis to enable banks to price their education loan portfolio.

• In order to bring about greater transparency in loan pricing, the banks should continue to provide the information on lending rates to the Reserve Bank and disseminate information on the Base Rate. In addition, banks should also provide information on the actual minimum and maximum interest rates charged to borrowers.

• All banks should follow the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) Codes for fair treatment of customers of banks, viz., the Code of Bank’s Commitment to Customers (Code) and the Code of Bank’s Commitment to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE Code) scrupulously. The Group also recommends that the Reserve Bank may require banks to publish summary information relating to the number of complaints and compliance with the codes in their annual reports.

RBI has placed a draft on the website for suggestions by November, 2009. The final guidelines are expected to be issued by RBI thereafter.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 6 What is the difference between BPLR and Base Rate? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) committee on reviewing the benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) has recommended that the BPLR nomenclature be scrapped and a new benchmark rate — known as Base Rate — should replace it. How do the Banks arrive at BPLR and How it is proposed to calculate Base Rate? At present, the calculation of BPLR by various banks is not transparent. However, Bank normally take into consideration the factors like cost of funds, administrative costs and a margin over it.


BASLE COMMITTEEBasle Committee - Origin The Basle Committee (some people also spell it as “Basel Committee”) has played a leading role in standardizing bank regulations across jurisdictions. Its origins can be traced to 1974. In 1974, Bank Herstatt, a German bank was liquidated. On the day of liquidation, some banks had released payment of DM to this Bank in Frankfurt, inexchange for US Dollars. However, due to difference in time-zone, Bank Herstatt received payments but it ceased its operations before the counterparty banks could receive their USD payments. The cross-jurisdictional problems, led the G-10 countries (at present G-10 consists of eleven countries, namely Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) and Luxembourg to form a Standing Committee under the auspices of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). This Committee is called the “Basle Committee on Banking Supervision”, The Committee comprises of representatives from Central Banks and Regulatory Authorities of different countries. During the last few decades, the major focus of the committee has been to : (1) define roles of regulators in cross-jurisdictional situations; (2) ensure that international banks and bank holding companies are under comprehensive supervision by a “home” regulatory authority; (3) promote uniform capital requirements so as to ensure that banks from different countries compete with one another on a “level playing field.” Basle I : 1988 Basle Accord : In 1988, the Basle Committee published a set of minimal capital requirements for banks. These became law in G-10 countries in 1992, with Japanese banks permitted an extended transition period. The requirements have come to be known as the 1988 Basle Accord The 1988 Basle Accord mainly focused on the core banking in the sense of deposit taking and lending and its focus remained on credit risk. Bank assets were assigned "risk weights” e.g. government debts were assigned 0% risk weight and bank debts were assigned 20% risk weight, and other debt were assigned 100% weights. Banks were asked to hold capital at least equal to 8% of the risk weighted value of assets. Additional rules applied to contingent obligations, such as letter of credits and derivatives. Slowly it was felt that Banks have become more aggressive and are taking higher risk. Thus, the Basle Committee decided to update the 1988 accord to include bank capital requirements for market risk. Basle I : 1996 Amendment : In April 1993 the Basle Committee released a package of proposed amendments to the 1988 accord. This included a document proposing minimum capital requirements for banks’ market risk . Banks were also required to identify Trading Book and hold capital for trading book market risks and organization-wide foreign exchange exposures. VaR (Value at Risk) was to be used for capital charges for the trading book. However, these proposals received certain adverse comments. Thus, in April 1995, the

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 9 Basle Committee released revised proposals. Under these proposals a number of changes, including the extension of market risk capital requirements to cover organization-wide commodities exposures were proposed. . Another important provision allowed banks to use either a regulatory building-block VaR measure or their own proprietary VaR measure for computing capital requirements. The Basle Committee’s new proposal was adopted in 1996 as an amendment to the 1988 accord. It is known as the 1996 Amendment . It went into effect in 1998.

BASEL II AT A GLANCE Basel I was very simple in its approach. However, Basel II is complex. Therefore, even the BCBS does not expect this New Accord i.e. Basel II Accord to be adopted widely and quickly. There is belief that countries would adopt the options and approaches that are most appropriate for the state of their banking systems, their supervisory structures and their markets,. Under the Basel II Accord, supervisors can adopt the framework on an evolutionary basis and use elements of national discretion to adapt it to their needs.Under Basel II, the capital requirements are more risk sensitive as these are directly related to the credit rating of each counter-party instead of counter-party category (as was applicable under Basel I). Further, the New Accord requires banks to hold capital not only for Credit and Market Risk but also for Operational Risk (OR) and where warranted for interest rate risks, credit concentration risks, liquidity risks etc. All these makes Basel II much more comprehensive than the earlier Basel I. Where as earlier, banks were required to hold a uniform level of 8 per cent as minimum capital under Basel I, now under the new accord, supervisors have the discretion to ask banks to hold higher levels of minimum capital under Basel II (For example, in India the minimum capital requirement is at 9% level). . Basel II has other advantages such as providing a range of options for counter-party capital requirements and in the process reducing the gap between required capital and regulatory capital. Basel II recognizes a wider range of collaterals and provides incentives for improved risk management practices.An interesting point to note here is that Basel II recognises the element of diversification of risk in the SME sector and has assigned a lower risk weight for retail SME exposure under Standardised Approach. The non-retail SME exposure would also attract a lower risk weight where they have better external ratings under the Standardised Approach. Shifting to Basel II, therefore, could be advantageous for economies whose banks have significant SME exposure. Major Differences Between Basle I and Basle II Accords :

Old Accord - Basle I New Accord - Basle II "One Size Fits All" Portfolio of approaches

Broad Brush More Risk Sensitive NEW ACCORD (BASLE II) IS BASED ON THREE PILLARS :

Pillar 1 : Minimum Capital Pillar 2 : Supervisory Review Pillar 3 : Market

Discipline • Advanced methods

for capital allocation • Capital charge for

operational risk

• Focus on internal capabilities • Supervisors to review banks

internal assessmetn and strategies

• Focus on disclosures

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 10 What Does Three Pillars Indicate :

Pillar 1 - Minimum Capital Pillar 2 - Supervisory Review

Pillar 3 - Market Discipline

Market risk Unchanged from existing Basel I Accord Credit risk

Significant change from existing Basel Accord Three different approaches to

the calculation of minimum capital requirements Capital incentives to move to

more sophisticated credit risk management approaches based on internal ratings Sophisticated approaches

have systems / controls and data collection requirements

Operational risk

Not covered in Basel I Accord Three different approaches to

the calculation of minimum capital requirements Adoption of each approach

subject to compliance with defined ‘qualifying criteria’

Banks should have a process for assessing their overall capital adequacy and strategy for maintaining capital levels. Supervisors should

review and evaluate banks’ internal capital adequacy assessment and strategies. Supervisors should

expect banks to operate above the minimum capital ratios and should have the ability to require banks to hold capital in excess of the minimum Supervisors should

seek to intervene at an early stage to prevent capital falling below minimum levels

Market discipline reinforces efforts to promote safety and soundness in banks

Core disclosures

(basic information) and supplementary disclosures to make market discipline more effective

Credit Risk Measurement Approaches under Basle II : Criteria Internal Ratings Based (IRB) Approach

Standardized Approach Foundation Approach Advanced

Approach Rating External Internal Internal

Risk Weight

Calibrated on the basis of external ratings by the Basel Committee

Function provided by the Basel Committee

Function provided by the Basel Committee

Probability of Default (PD) i.e. the likelikhood that a borrower will default over a given time period

Implicitly provided by the Basel Committee, tied to risk weights based on external ratings

Provided by bank based on own estimates

Provided by the Bank based on own estimates

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 11 Criteria Internal Ratings Based (IRB) Approach


Approach Exposure of Default (EAD) : For loans, the amount of the facility that is likely to be drawn if a default occurs

Supervisory values set by the Basel Committee

Supervisory values set by the Basel Committee

Provided by bank based on own estimates.

Loss Given Default (LGD) : the proportion of the exposure that will be lost if a default occurs

Implicitly provided by the Basel Committee, tied to risk weights based on exteranl ratings

Supervisory values set by the Basel commitee

Provided by bank based on own estimates; extensive process and internal control requirement

Maturity i.e. the remaining economic maturity of the exposure

Implicitly recognition

Supervisory values set by the Basel Commitee

or At rational

discretion, provided by bank based on own estimates (with an allowance to exclude certain exposures)

Provided by the bank based on own estimates (with an allowance to exclude certainexposures)

Data Requirements

Provision dates Default events exposure data customer

segmention Data collateral

segmentation Exteranl Ratings Collateral data

Rating data Default events Historical data to

estimate PDs (5 years) Collateral data

Same as IRB Foundtion, plus : Historical loss

data to estimate LGD (7 years) Historical

exposue data to estimate EAD (7 years)

Credit Risk Mitigation techniques (CRMT)

Defined by the supervisory regulator; including financial collateral, guarantees, credit derivatives,

All collaterals from Standardized approach; receivables from goods and services; other physical

All types of collaterals if bank can prove a CRMT by internal estimation.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 12 Criteria Internal Ratings Based (IRB) Approach


Approach "netting" (on and off balance sheet) and real estate.

securities if certain criteria are met.

Maturity : the remaining economic maturity of the exposure

Minimum requirements for collateral management (administration / evaluation) Provisioning

process

Same as Standardized Approach; plus minimum requirements to ensure quality of internal ratings and PD estimate on and their use in the risk management process.

Same as IRB foundation, plus minimum requirements to ensure quality of estimation of all parameters.

Operational Risk Measurement Approaches : Calculation of Capital Charge

Basic Indicator Approach

Standardized Approach

Advanced Measurement Approach (AMA)

Calculation of capital charge

• Average of gross income over three years as indicator

• Capital charge equals 15% of that indicator

• Gross income per regulatory business line as indicator

• depending on business line, 12%, 15% or 18% of that indicator as capital charge

• Total capital charge equals sum of charge per business line

• Capital charge equals internally generated measure based on (a) internal loss data; (b) External loss data; (c) Scenario analysis; (d) Business environment and internal control factors;

• Recognition of risk mitigation (up to 20% possible)

Qualifying Criteria

• No specific criteria; • compliance with the

Basel Committee's "Sound Practices for the Management and Supervision of Operational Risk" recommended

• Active involvement of board of directors and senior management;

• existence of Operational Risk Management function

• Sound Operational Risk

• Market discipline reinforces efforts to promote safety and soundness in banks;

• Core disclosures (basic information) and supplementary disclosures to make market discipline more effective.


management system

• Systematic tracking of loss data

OPERATIONAL RISK CATEGORIES :

• Internal Fraud • External Fraud • Employment Practices & workplace safety • Clients, Products and Business Practices • Physical damage to assets • Business Disruption and System failures • Execution, Delivery and Process Management

Major Requirements of Basel Accord for sound practices for Management and Supervision of operational Risk :

• Establish a structured risk management framework for the bank • Redesign process and approach • Strengthen existing controls, policies and procedures • Invest in staff training • Automate processes • Acceptance of risk as cost of doing business • Transfer risk through subcontracting • Contingency plan - Insurance • Create risk awareness culture

STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS ON BANKING SECTOR of BASLE II ACCORD

(A) Capital Requirement

• Capital Release : - Prime mortgages - High quality corporate lending - High Quality liquidity portfolios - Collateralized and hedged exposures

• Capital Absorption : - Leveraged finance - Specialized lending - Small business

- Commitments and pipeline - Opportunities to use surplus capital.

(B) Wider Market :

• Significant barriers to entry as a bank • Increased competition for low risk customers • disclosure under Pillar III • Peer group pressure will lead to adoption of more advanced approaches • Risk Transfer - outside Basel regulated banking system e.g. insurance industry;

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 14 (c )Products :

• Focus on key products / those with best return on regulatory capital • Impact of differing capital treatment and return transparency will impact product

design; • Increased risk based product pricing for those on sophisticated credit risk

approaches • Those with less sophisticated risk approaches may be priced out of the market

(D) Customers : • Increased transparency of account profitability • Risk differentiated customer management through :

- Winners : (a) Prime mortgage customers; (b) Well rated entities - Losers : (a) Small and medium sized businesses; (b) Higher credit risk individuals ;

CHALLENGES IN BASEL II IMPLEMENTATION Constituent Challenges

Banks

• Interpret new regulations and understand effects on business;

• Secure and maintain board and senior management sponsorship

• Face new expectations from regulators. rating agencies and customers

• Need to consider whether to target certain customers / products or eliminate others

Customers

• Face new costs resulting from need to provide lenders with new, timely information;

• Use key performance indicators to monitor performance;

• Face request for better collateralization • Manage rating process

Regulators

• Need well-trained, educated professionals to fill roles;• Create regulation that reflects the linkage among

risks • Provide incentives for banks to evaluate risks through

stress testing and scenario analysis

Rating Agencies • Seek to improve reputation (national agencies) • Maintain high quality of ratings

Financial institutions out of Basel II scope

• Interpret new regulations and understand effects on business and risk management

• Demonstrate quality as Basel II emerges as a best practice standard


Implementation of Basel II in India Role of RBI in Basel II Framing : RBI’s association with the BCBS (Basel Committee on Banking Supervision) is since 1997. India was among the 16 non-member countries that were consulted in the drafting of the Basel Core Principles. Reserve Bank of India became a member of the Core Principles Liaison Group in 1998 and subsequently became a member of the Core Principles Working Group on Capital. Within the Core Principles Working Group (CPWG), RBI has been actively participating in the deliberations on the Accord and had the privilege to lead a group of 6 major non G -10 supervisors which presented a proposal on a simplified approach for Basel II to the Committee. The Reserve Bank’s comments on the 3rd consultative document on the New Capital Accord on the basis of the quantitative impact studies (QIS 3) undertaken in co-ordination with select banks has brought out the need for more simplicity and greater flexibility on account of the different levels of preparedness of the banking system in India. Role of RBI in Implementation of Basle Accords : RBI's approach to the institution of prudential norms has been one of gradual convergence with international standards and best practices with suitable country specific adaptations. Its aim has been to reach global best standards in a deliberately phased manner through a consultative process evolved within the country. This has also been the guiding principle in the approach to the New Basel Accord e.g. while the minimum capital adequacy requirement under the Basel standard is 8%. However, in India, RBI has stipulated and achieved a minimum capital of 9%. Banks in India have now even implemented capital charge for market risk prescribed in the Basel document w.e.f. 31/03/2006. However, as a prudent measure RBI had put in place several surrogates for market risk, e.g. IFR ( Investment Fluctuation Reserve) of 5% of the investment portfolio, both in the AFS and HFT categories plus a 2.5% risk weight on the entire investment portfolio. In India, RBI is instrumental to ensure implementation of Basel II. The reform process started in early nineties of the last century have proved a boon for migrating to Basel II. With the commencement of the banking sector reforms in the early 1990s, the RBI has been consistently upgrading the Indian banking sector by adopting international best practices. The approach to reforms has been one of having clarity about the destination as also deciding on the sequence and pace of reforms to suit Indian conditions. All these have helped India in moving ahead with the reforms without any major disruptions. In view of the RBI’s goal to have consistency and harmony with international standards and its approach to adopt the pace as may be appropriate in the context of our country specific needs, Reserve Bank of India in April 2003 accepted in principle to adopt the New Capital Accord Basel II. RBI in its Annual Policy statement in May 2004 asked banks in India to examine in depth the options available under Basel II and draw a road-map by end December 2004 for migration to Basel II and review the progress made thereof at quarterly intervals. Hence, at a minimum all banks in India begin to adopt Standardized Approach for credit risk and Basic Indicator Approach for operational risk. After adequate skills are developed, both in banks and at supervisory levels, some banks may be allowed to migrate to IRB Approach. With the successful implementation of banking sector reforms over the past decade, the Indian banking system has shown substantial improvement on various parameters. It has become robust and displayed

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 16 significant resilience to shocks. There is ample evidence of the capacity of the Indian banking system to migrate smoothly to Basel II norms. Major Regulatory Initiatives taken in India : The regulatory initiatives taken by the Reserve Bank of India include:

• Ensuring that the banks have suitable risk management framework oriented towards their requirements dictated by the size and complexity of business, risk philosophy, market perceptions and the expected level of capital. The framework adopted by banks would need to be adaptable to changes in business size, market dynamics and introduction of innovative products by banks in future.

• Introduction of Risk Based Supervision (RBS) in 23 banks on a pilot basis. • Encouraging banks to formalize their Capital Adequacy Assessment Programme

(CAAP) in alignment with business plan and performance budgeting system. This, together with adoption of Risk Based Supervision would aid in factoring the Pillar II requirements under Basel II.

• Enhancing the area of disclosures (Pillar III), so as to have greater transparency of the financial position and risk profile of banks.

• Improving the level of corporate governance standards in banks. • Building capacity for ensuring the regulator’s ability for identifying and permitting

eligible banks to adopt IRB / Advanced Measurement approaches. Major Challenges Envisaged in Implementation of Basel II Accord in India : Against the above background and the complexities involved as also the areas of "constructive ambiguity" in concepts and their application the following regulatory and supervisory challenges ahead are envisaged :

• India has three established rating agencies in which leading international credit rating agencies are stakeholders and also extend technical support. However, the level of rating penetration is not very significant as, so far, ratings are restricted to issues and not issuers. While Basel II gives some scope to extend the rating of issues to issuers, this would only be an approximation and it would be necessary for the system to move to ratings of issuers. Encouraging ratings of issuers would be a challenge.

• Basel II provides scope for the supervisor to prescribe higher than the minimum capital levels for banks for, among others, interest rate risk in the banking book and concentration of risks / risk exposures. As already stated, we in India have initiated supervisory capacity building to identify slackness and to assess / quantify the extent of additional capital which may be required to be maintained by such banks. The magnitude of this task to be completed by December 2006, when we in India have as many as 100 banks, is daunting.

• Cross border issues have been dealt with by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision recently. But, in India, foreign banks are statutorily required to maintain local capital and the following issues would therefore, require to be resolved by us :

• Whether the internal models approved by their head offices and home country supervisor adopted by the Indian branches of foreign banks need to be validated again by the Reserve Bank or whether the validation by the home country supervisor would be considered adequate?

• Whether the data history maintained and used by the bank should be distinct for the Indian branches compared to the global data maintained and used by the head office?


• Whether capital for operational risk should be maintained separately for the Indian branches in India or whether it may be maintained abroad at head office?

• Whether these banks can be mandated to maintain capital as per SA / BIA approaches in India irrespective of the approaches adopted by the head office?

• Basel II could actually imply that the minimum requirements could become pro-cyclical. No doubt prudent risk management policies and Pillars II and III would help in overall stability. We feel that it would be preferable to have consistent prudential norms in good and bad times rather than calibrate prudential norms to counter pro-cyclicality.

• The existence of large and complex financial conglomerates could potentially pose a systemic risk and it would be necessary to put in place supervisory policies to address this.

• In the event of some banks adopting IRB Approach, while other banks adopt Standardised Approach, the following profiles may emerge:

• Banks adopting IRB Approach will be much more risk sensitive than the banks on Standardised Approach, since even a small change in degree of risk might translate into a large impact on additional capital requirement for the IRB banks. Hence IRB banks could avoid assuming high risk exposures. Since banks adopting Standardised Approach are not equally risk sensitive and since the relative capital requirement would be less for the same exposure, the banks on Standardised Approach could be inclined to assume exposures to high risk clients, which were not financed by IRB banks. As a result, high risk assets could flow towards banks on Standardised Approach which need to maintain lower capital on these assets than the banks on IRB Approach.

• Similarly, low risk assets would tend to get concentrated with IRB banks which need to maintain lower capital on these assets than the Standardised Approach banks.

• Hence, system as a whole may maintain lower capital than warranted. • Due to concentration of higher risks, Standardised Approach banks can become

vulnerable at times of economic downturns. These issues would need to be addressed satisfactorily. The policy approach to Basel II in India is such that external perception about India conforming to best international standards is positive and is in our favour. Commercial banks in India will start implementing Basel II with effect from March 31, 2007. They will initially adopt the Standardised Approach for credit risk and the Basic Indicator Approach for operational risk. After adequate skills are developed, both by the banks and also by the supervisors, some banks may be allowed to migrate to the Internal Rating Based (IRB) Approach. Implementation of Basel II will require more capital for banks in India due to the fact that operational risk is not captured under Basel I, and the capital charge for market risk was not prescribed until recently. Though the cushion available in the system, which at present has a CRAR of over 12 per cent, is comforting, banks are exploring various avenues for meeting the capital requirements under Basel II.RBI has been expanding the area of disclosures so as to have greater transparency with regard to the financial position and risk profile of banks. Illustratively, with a view to enhancing further transparency, all cases of penalty imposed by the RBI on the banks as also directions issued on specific matters, including those arising out of inspection, are

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 18 to be placed in the public domain. Such proactive disclosures by the Regulator are expected to have a salutary effect on the functioning of the banking system. In addition to the above, any penal action taken against any foreign bank branches in India are also shared with the Home country regulator with a view to enhance the quality of consolidated supervision. These initiatives will be an important supplement to the Pillar 3 disclosures prescribed under Basel II, which in our opinion will further the cause of a stable banking system. Some of the issues which emerging economies in particular would need to address on the way ahead are higher capital requirements, improved IT architectures, data issues, consolidation, capacity building, external ratings, use of national discretion, validating the concept of economic capital and corporate governance. These are discussed below in some detail : a. Higher capital requirements – The Basel document prescribes the minimum capital requirements and banks need to be encouraged to hold more capital than the minimum. As a part of their strategy, banks are expected to operate at levels above the minimum to take care of the fluctuations in capital requirements in response to the fluctuations in the quality of risk exposures. Further, it will be necessary to ensure that all elements of expected losses should be fully met by provisioning and that capital is available exclusively to support unexpected losses. Higher capital requirements could pose difficulties if there are state owned banks. This may require consideration of options such as preference shares and other innovative tier-I instruments, hybrid tier-II capital instruments and tier-III capital instruments. b. Improved IT architecture/MIS – The basic requirement for implementation of Basel II is improved information systems for managing and using data for business decisions. Banks should, therefore, be encouraged to strengthen their IT architecture and also improve their information and reporting systems. This would also equip banks to cope appropriately with the Pillar 3 disclosure requirements. c. Consolidation – In the normal course of operations banks would be constantly looking for opportunities of inorganic growth. Banks which operate with capital above the minimum levels have an edge over the other banks to the extent that they would be able to seize an opportunity for merger / acquisition as and when it is available without any loss of time. However, it would be necessary for such banks to improve their internal controls and risk management systems before embarking on a path of inorganic growth. Basel II implementation would enable banks to meet the above pre-requisites and place them in a situation where they can take advantage of opportunities as and when they arise. d. Data issues – Implementation of Basel II, both under Standardised Approach and IRB Approaches, would involve utilisation of data for computing capital requirements. While the dependence on data under the Standardised Approach would be largely similar to Basel I, the data requirements are considerable under the Advanced Approaches. Banks would require adequate and acceptable historical data to compute capital requirement under these Approaches. At the minimum banks need to have historical data for computing the probability of default, loss given default and operational risk losses. While building up this data base banks also need to ensure purity and integrity of such data.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 19 e. Capacity Building – Above all, capacity building, both in banks and the regulatory bodies is a serious challenge, especially with regard to adoption of the advanced approaches. Banks would need to focus on equipping their staff suitably to handle the advanced risk management systems and supervisors need to equip themselves with equal skills to have effective supervision. Given the demand for skills in the sector, the level of attrition is likely to be high. Hence, banks need to focus on motivating the skilled staff and retaining them. We have initiated supervisory capacity-building measures in India to identify the gaps and to assess as well as quantify the extent of additional capital, which may be required to be maintained by such banks. The magnitude of this task, which is scheduled to be completed by December 2006, appears daunting since we have as many as 90 scheduled commercial banks in India. (f) External ratings – In a situation where countries do not have domestic rating agencies or where the extent of rating penetration is low the capacity of banks in these countries to relate capital requirements to the actual underlying risk will be seriously handicapped. It would be necessary to develop domestic rating agencies and look at methods for increasing the rating penetration of the rating agencies. (g) Use of national discretion – As I have mentioned earlier, discretion is available to national supervisors under Basel II framework on many aspects. It would be necessary for the national supervisors to exercise this discretion with caution. There could be various sectors of the economy which may deserve a preferential treatment taking into account their national relevance. It would be in order to lighten the burden of Basel II on these sectors within the limitations of national discretion provided the resulting capital requirements reflect the underlying risks in these sectors. In case the situation prevailing in a country reflects higher risks then it would perhaps be necessary for the supervisor to factor this while formulating the national rules for Basel II implementation. (h) Validating the concept of economic capital – The Basel II Framework will promote adoption of stronger risk management practices by banks which will address all major risks comprehensively. Basel II, by being risk sensitive, will enable banks to bridge the gap between economic capital and regulatory capital. Through the Pillar II requirements under Basel II, banks are expected to have their own internal methodologies for assessing the risks and computing the capital requirements to support those risks even for banks adopting the standardised approach for credit risk. This would aid the banks to move in the direction of building their own economic capital models, which can direct their business strategies. It is possible that many of the banks in emerging economies might not have developed their internal capital adequacy assessment processes (ICAAP). Implementation of Basel II would now require these banks to have in place an ICAAP which meets the Basel II specifications. The regulators would perhaps be required to take the initiative in this regard to enhance the level of understanding of ICAAP in banks, the benefits that may accrue to them by adoption of ICAAP and the likely focus of supervisory assessments in this regard. (i) Improving governance standards and oversight – The Basel II framework places considerable emphasis on internal processes for managing risk and for managing capital requirements. This along with the Pillar 3 disclosure requirements places tremendous demand on the Governance and oversight standards within a bank. Banks should therefore focus their energies on raising their governance and oversight standards to greater heights. The Basel Committee recognises that primary responsibility for good corporate governance rests with boards of directors and senior management of

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 20 banks. Corporate Governance can be improved by addressing a number of legal issues such as protecting and promoting shareholder rights, clarifying governance roles. Ensuring that corporations function in an environment that is free from corruption and bribery; and aligning the interests of managers, employees and shareholders through appropriate laws, regulations and other measures. All of these can help promote healthy business and legal environments that support sound corporate governance and related supervisory initiatives. In India the governance issues have been addressed by prescribing guidelines on corporate governance in banks. These include fit and proper standards for not only the Board of Directors but also for the shareholders and the chief executives. In this regard, it might be appropriate to mention that importance of corporate governance is relevant for the state owned banks also. The focus of the standards should be, at the least, to equip the boards of banks to ask the right questions. Conclusion Basel II is expected to foster financial stability through its risk sensitive framework which will encourage banks to adopt improved risk management practices; require supervisors to review the efficiency of banks’ risk management practices and capital allocation methodologies; and empower market participants to make informed judgements on the efficiency of banks and accordingly punish or reward banks. While it is true that implementation of Basel II is not the be all and end all on the subject of financial stability it must be recognised that banks are "special". Their sound and efficient functioning is critical not only to the growth of the real sector but also for strengthening the social infrastructure. Internationally, therefore, banks have moved centre-stage and their performance is the cynosure of all eyes. Source : Basel documents and speeches of RBI officials and circulars issued by RBI.


COMMODITIES TRADING What is Commodities Trading: Goods such as grains, metals, oil, cotton, coffee, sugar and cocoa are dealt in bulk at wholesale levels. World wide, these commodities can be sold either on the spot market for immediate delivery or on the commodities exchanges for later delivery. Trade on the exchanges can be in various forms, including in the form of futures contracts. Commodities are typically bought and sold in the futures markets where producers combine with manufacturers and speculators to create a liquid market. Commodities are often viewed as a hedge against inflation because their price rises with the consumer price index. Advantages of Future Commodities Trading : Futures trading in commodities results in transparent and fair price discovery on account of large scale participations of entities associated with different value chains and reflects views and expectations of wider section of people related to that commodities. This also provides effective platform for price risk management for all segments of players ranging from the producers, the traders, processors, exporters/importers and the end users of the commodity. The trading on futures contract on our platform is facilitated by an online platform for market participants to trade in a wide range of commodity derivatives driven by the best global practices of professionalism and transparencies. Brief History of Commodities Trading in India : India has a long history of futures trading in commodities. However Indian commodities future trading passed through a turbulent period.. The formal nationwide regulation of this market was established with the enactment of the Forward Contract (Regulation) Act, 1952. This brought into light a booming trading activities incommodities market. At one time there were as many as 110 exchanges conducting forward trade in various commodities. That was the time, when the equity market was a poor cousin of this market as there were not many companies whose shares were traded at that time. However, Indian economy in late 1950s and early 1960s saw a period of endemic shortages in many essential commodities. This resulted in inflationary pressures on prices of such commodities and government regulations in this area, resulted in the decline of this market since the mid-1960s. Futures trading came to be prohibited in most of the important commodities except some minor commodities like pepper and turmeric. Even the merchandising customised forward contract were banned in , most of the commodities which sounded the death knell of this trade. Traders migrated to securities market where they were in some way already trading or to some other activities. The die hard traders continued to conduct trade illegally. Curbing these illegal activities became the major role of the Forward Markets Commission, which was established under the FC(R) Act to promote the market under proper regulation. Revival of Interest in Commodities Trading : The interest in commodities futures trading has revived since early 1990s. Though the futures trading is not new to India, as it could boast of being the only third world country with thriving in commodities exchanges in vegetable oils, cotton, bullion etc. a few decades ago, yet we have missed more than three decades within which tremendous strides have been made in futures trading worldwide. The 1990s saw a major shift in economic policies pursued by the Government of India. When in 1991 the government embarked upon economic liberalization programme, with stress on market orientation and globalisation, to improve economic efficiency in all segments, the talks to

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 22 revive commodities market also surfaced. Futures trading is widely accepted as necessary, as it provides for greater transparency in price making and permit "hedge" trading to protect risk-averse participants against adverse volatility in prices of basic commodities. Who is the Regulatory body for commodities trading? The Forward Markets Commission (FMC) is the regulatory body for commodity futures/forward trade in India. The commission was set up under the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act of 1952. The Commission is responsible for regulating and promoting futures / forward trade in commodities. To visit their website click here www.fmc.gov.in The Commission has its HQ at Mumbai while it has its regional in Kolkata. The address of the same is as follows :- Forward Markets Commission,(Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution) (Department of Consumer Affairs), "Everest", 3rd floor, 100, Marine Drive, Mumbai - 400 002. Commodity Exchanges in India : The existing Commodity Exchanges operated in India have at best managed to create liquidity primarily in one commodity. The main reason for this was the absence of a nationwide reach and access to multiple commodities. The Government of India, therefore, decided to establish Nationwide Multi Commodity Exchanges (NMCEs) in order to address this key issue. The objective of establishing NMCEs is to ensure that the Commodity Exchanges operate at a national level, trade in all commodities with economies of scale and adopt best practices in Exchange management, like, demutualisation, automation and settlement guarantee. Forward Markets Commission thus accorded in principle approval for the following national level multi commodity exchanges in the country:-

(a) National Board of Trade (b) Multi Commodity Exchange of India (c ) National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange of India Ltd

The NMCEs are governed and regulated by the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), under the FC(R)A and FC(R)R. The NMCEs are managed by the Board of the Exchange and are self-regulated by virtue of their Articles, Rules, Bye Laws and Regulations approved by the FMC. The Board of the Exchange also has a representative from the FMC. Further, the Exchanges also have various committees to decide issues pertaining to its own area of operations. The primary differences between the NMCEs and other single Commodity Exchanges are that the NMCEs are required to be necessarily demutualised (i.e. not owned or managed by members brokers), have automated trading, Settlement Guarantee Mechanism, trade in all permitted commodities and have trading system available across the country. The latest among the above NMCE, is the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX), which is a public limited company incorporated on April 23, 2003 under the Companies Act, 1956. NCDEX : National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) is an online multi commodity exchange promoted by ICICI Bank Limited (ICICI Bank), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 23 (NABARD) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE). NCDEX is the only commodity exchange in the country promoted by national level institutions. It is likely to provide a world-class commodity exchange platform for market participants to trade in a wide spectrum of commodity derivatives driven by best global practices, professionalism and transparency. NCDEX is located in Mumbai and offers facilities to its members in about 91 cities throughout India. The reach will gradually be expanded to other cities. NCDEX is regulated by Forward Market Commission in respect of futures trading in commodities. Besides, NCDEX is subjected to various laws of the land like the Companies Act, Stamp Act, Contracts Act, Forward Commission (Regulation) Act and various other legislations, which impinge on its working. NCDEX has started trading of ten commodities - Gold, Silver, Soy Bean, Refined Soy Bean Oil, Rapeseed-Mustard Seed, Expeller Rapeseed-Mustard Seed Oil, RBD Palmolein, Crude Palm Oil and Cotton - medium and long staple varieties. At subsequent phases trading in more commodities would be facilitated. An individual, partnership firm, Private limited company, public limited Company, co-operative societies are eligible to become members of NCDEX subject to the conditions for the membership. Is options trading in commodities allowed? No, at present options in commodities are prohibited under Section 19 of the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1952. However the market expects that once future trading in commodities gets stablised, the government will permit options trading in commodities. How is commodity exchange differs from a stock exchange? The main difference between the commodity exchange and stock exchange is as follows : commodity exchange deal in non-financial commodities e.g. agricultural commodities like cotton, wheat, rice, groundnut and non-agro commodities e.g. aluminum, zinc, nickel etc However a stock exchange deals in financial products like stocks, indexes, interest rate, government securities etc. FUTURE OF COMMODITIES TRADING IN INDIA : Since 2003, new re-surgent has been witnessed in the future commodities trading. The recent policy changes along with feel good factor about the Indian economy which has witnessed high rate of growth, particularly agriculture, have created lot of interest and euphoria about the commodity markets. At present there are more than 20 exchanges which deal in futures trading in different commodities. Some more exchanges are likely to be added and the existing multi commodities will add new commodities for trading. The new Commodities trading exchanges are entering into new areas commodities and are IT savy. The new exchanges like NBOT (National Board of Trade, Indore) have been able to generate large volume and are successfuly in spreading the culture of forward trading in commodities. In a short period it has become one of the largest exchange in terms of volume. Other exchange like NMCE have also shown impressive growth. The new financial year 2004-05 is likely to be a water-shed in the spread of commodities trading and volumes may go up by four times. With new exchanges like NCDEX this market is likely to get a big boost and even financial entities may enter this field in a big way in years to come.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 24 However, a word of caution is necessary. To avoid unnecessary speculation and freenze witnessed in equity market from time to time, it is necessary that certain steps are taken by exchanges, regulator and the government so as to make the investors aware of the benefits and risks associated with futures trading in commodities. There should be regulations so that all he information is available to everybody. There is also need to develop warehousing facilities, setting of new standards for gradation of commodities etc. Certain amendments may be necessary in existing Acts so that more transparency is introduced in this market.


CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Corporate Governance is concerned with the systems and processes for ensuring proper accountability, probity and openness in the conduct of an organization’s business. Thus, it is the process under which the organizations try to hold the balance between economic and social goals and between individual and communal goals. In a nutshell, we can say that the corporate governance framework strives to the efficient use of resources and equally to require accountability for the stewardship of those resources. The basic aim of Corporate Governance is to align as nearly as possible the interests of individuals, corporations and society. Corporate Governance has three important features, and these are :-

(a) Transparency in operations and decision-making. (b) Accountability for the decisions taken (c ) Accountability for the stakeholders

For example, it the duty of the Board members to ensure that in the case of shareholders, the investments and the return on investment is safeguarded. This means that the managements of the company has to ensure that the decisions taken by them actually create wealth and do not destroy wealth. In case the net earnings are less than the cost of capital it is considered as net destruction of wealth and can not be considered as good governance. Indian Banks - Some Sound Practices for Corporate Governance According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD), some of the sound corporate governance practices for Banks in India include :- (a) The Board of a bank should be broad-based with induction of non-executive directors of sufficient calibre and number for their independent views to carry the desired weight in the Board’s decisions. (b) The Board is responsible to establish certain strategic objectives and a set of corporate values for the senior management, employees and the Board members themselves. (c ) The Board should set and enforce clear systems & procedures, lines of responsibility and accountability throughout the bank. (d) The Board should ensure that senior managers exercise supervisory role with respect to line managers in specific business and activities with great sense of propriety. (e) The Board should recognize the importance of the audit process, communicate this importance throughout the bank and ensure effective utilization of the work by internal & external auditors. Recent Steps Taken by Banks in India for Corporate Governance (a) Induction of non executive members on the Boards

(b) Constitution of various Committees like Management Committee, Audit Committee, Investor’s Grievances Committee, ALM Committee etc.

(c) Gradual implementation of prudential norms as prescribed by RBI, (d) Introduction of Citizens Charter in Banks (e) Implementation of “Know Your Customer” concept,

The primary responsibility for good governance lies with the Board of Directors and the senior management of the Bank


Credit Information Bureau (India) Limited (CIBIL) What is CIBIL ? The Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act, 2005, and various Rules and Regulations issued by Reserve Bank of India has empowered CIBIL or (Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd to collect the data from various types of credit grantors (i.e. lenders). and then share the same within the group. The legislation has enabled banks to submit data to CIBIL without obtaining borrower consent This has enabled CIBIL to tracks repayment history of bank customers loans, credit cards and further banking finances. The access to this database is usually available only to officials of banks. Whenever a person approaches bank for a fresh loan Who Provides Information to CIBIL ? By August, 2007, 154 credit grantors have accepted membership to CIBIL. These include 79 banks accounting for over 90% of the total credit outstanding amongst the commercial banks, 16 HFCs accounting for over 70% of the total credit outstanding amongst the HFCs, 11 FIs accounting for over 90% of the total credit outstanding amongst the FIs, 2 Credit Card Companies accounting for over 90% of the total credit outstanding amongst the CCCs, 7 State Financial Corporations and 41 major NBFCs representing a substantial portion of the credit outstanding of that sector. How Does CIBIL operates? At present, CIBIL collects and updates the information about the borrowers from its Members (who are actually credit grantors) only. (However, later on it is likely that this information will be supplement by CIBIL with public domain information so as to create a truly comprehensive snapshot of an entity’s financial track record).. Then CIBIL allows the credit grantors to have access to its database to search and gain a complete picture of the payment history of a credit applicant. Thus, we can say that CIBIL collects commercial and consumer credit-related data and collates such data to create and distribute credit reports to Members. (A Credit Information Report (CIR) is a factual record of a borrower's credit payment history compiled from information received from different credit grantors. Its purpose is to help credit grantors make informed lending decisions - quickly and objectively). What Are the categories for classifying the Data? The data of the bureau can be broadly classified into two categories : Commercial Bureau : The Commercial Bureau, which has credit information on non-individual borrowers, has been launched on May 8, 2006, with a database of 6.73 Lakh accounts contributed by 37 Members. Subsequently, our database has grown over 17.8 Lakh accounts contributed by 71 Members. As per the relevant RBI circulars, CIBIL is already maintaining a database of Suit-Filed accounts of Rs. 1 Crore and above and Suit-Filed accounts (willful defaulters) of Rs. 25 Lacs and above. In its initiative to improve Credit flow to SMEs, CIBIL is being supported under SME Financing and Development Project implemented by Project Management Division, SIDBI, with an aim to ensure flow of credit to the under penetrated SME sector while increasing banks’ profitability and market penetration (via sound credit decisions) and reducing non-performing loans (via credit information tools). Consumer Bureau : The Consumer Bureau was launched on April 5, 2004 with a database of 4 million accounts contributed by 13 Members. Subsequently, our database has grown over 114 million accounts contributed by 94 Members. The Consumer Bureau

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 27 reports are available to Members, who have submitted all their data to CIBIL in an acceptable format (Principle of Reciprocity). Who Can Access CIRs? Can a Borrower obtain copy of CIR from CIBIL ? Reports can be accessed by Members on the principle of reciprocity i.e. only those Members who have provided all their data to CIBIL are permitted to access CIRs. Members can do so only to take valid credit decisions. Disclosure to any other person or entity is prohibited. However, a borrower can not obtain a copy of CIR from the CIBIL, but when a Member has drawn a report on that borrower, a copy of the same can be obtained from the Member by the borrower.


HEDGE FUNDS What are Hedge Funds? Hedge funds are those funds where the fund manager is authorised to use derivatives and borrowing to provide a higher return, albeit at a higher risk. Hedge funds term is commonly used to describe those funds that do not indulge in conventional investment fund, i.e. it uses strategies other than investing long. For example

· Short selling · Using arbitrage · Trading derivatives · Leveraging or borrowing · Investing in out-of-favour or unrecognized undervalued securities

The name hedge fund is a misnomer as the funds may not actually hedge against risk. The returns can be high, but so can be losses. These investments require expertise in particular investment strategies. The hedge funds tend to be specialized, operating within a given niche, specialty or industry that requires the particular expertise. These funds that are extremely flexible in their investment options because they use financial instruments generally beyond the reach of mutual funds, which have SEC regulations and disclosure requirements that largely prevent them from using short-selling, leverage, concentrated investments and derivatives. This flexibility, which includes use of hedging strategies to protect downside risk, gives hedge funds the ability to best manage investment risks. What is the difference between a hedge fund and a mutual fund ?

a) Mutual funds are regulated and are not allowed to use the strategies like short selling and derivatives. Hedge funds usually remain unregulated and unrestricted. The restrictions on Hedge Funds are placed only by investors who wants the adopt only those strategies where fund manager has best expertise.

b) The performance of the Mutual funds is usually measured vis a vis returns by a

benchmark index. On the other hand, Hedge funds are expected to deliver absolute returns - under all circumstances, even if the indices are down.

c) Mutual funds are not able to effectively protect portfolios against declining

markets other than by going into cash or by shorting a limited amount of stock index futures. Hedge funds, on the other hand, are able to not only protect against declining markets, but also produce positive results, by using a variety of hedgingand trading strategies.

d) Mutual funds pay fee based on a percent of assets under management, but

Hedge funds pay Fund Managers depending on the performance of funds plus a fixed fee.


HEDGING What is Hedging : Hedging is a mechanism to reduce price risk inherent in open positions. Derivatives are widely used for hedging. A Hedge can help lock in existing profits. Its purpose is to reduce the volatility of a portfolio, by reducing the risk. It needs to be noted that hedging does not mean maximization of return. It only means reduction in variation of return. It is quite possible that the return is higher in the absence of the hedge, but so also is the possibility of a much lower return. What are long/ short positions ? Long and short positions indicate whether a person has a net over-bought position (long) or over-sold position (short). What are general hedging strategies ? One of the popular strategies for hedging is : "If you are long in cash underlying - Short Future; and If short in cash underlying - Long Future". This can be illustrated by a simple example. If one has bought 100 shares of say Reliance Industries and want to Hedge against market movements, he has to short an appropriate amount of Index Futures. This will reduce his overall exposure to events affecting the whole market (systematic risk). Suppose a major terrorist attack takes place, the entire market can sharply fall. In such a case, his in Reliance Industries would be offset by the gains in his short position in Index Futures. Some other examples of where hedging strategies that can be really useful can be as follows ::-

• Reducing the equity exposure of a Mutual Fund by selling Index Futures; • Investing funds raised by new schemes in Index Futures so that market

exposure is immediately taken; and • Partial liquidation of portfolio by selling the index future instead of the actual

shares where the cost of transaction is higher

What is the Hedge Ratio ? The Hedge Ratio is defined as the number of Futures contracts required to buy or sell so as to provide the maximum offset of risk. This depends on the

• Value of a Futures contract; • Value of the portfolio to be Hedged; and • Sensitivity of the movement of the portfolio price to that of the Index (Called

Beta). The Hedge Ratio is closely linked to the correlation between the asset (portfolio of shares) to be hedged and underlying (index) from which Future is derived.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 30 Who are Hedgers, Speculators and Arbitrageurs ? Hedgers wish to eliminate or reduce the price risk to which they are already exposed. Speculators are those class of investors who willingly take price risks to profit from price changes in the underlying. Arbitrageurs profit from price differential existing in two markets by simultaneously operating in two different markets. Hedgers, Speculators and Arbitrageurs are required for a healthy functioning of the market. Hedgers and investors provide the economic substance to anyfinancial market. Without them the markets would lose their purpose and become mere tools of gambling. Speculators provide liquidity and depth to the market. Arbitrageurs bring price uniformity and help price discovery. The market provides a mechanism by which diverse and scattered opinions are reflected in one single price of the underlying. Markets help in efficient transfer of risk from Hedgers to speculators. Hedging only makes an outcome more certain. It does not necessarily lead to a better outcome.


MONETARY AND CREDIT POLICY of RBI RBI Governor every year makes two policy announcements and these are always considered as important event in the Indian financial circles and have great bearing on the Indian economy. Two policy announcements made every year - usually, one in April (known as slack season policy) and the second in October (known as busy season policy) are eagerly awaited by all bankers. Previously these were called Credit Policies or Monetary and Credit Policy. However, now a days RBI, announces its "Annual Policy Statement" for the entire year, sometime in April and then reviews the same in October. The slack season policy is called so, as it takes policy decision for the period when rains set in the Indian economy and economic activity is at a low ebb. This policy is popularly known as the "slack season policy". However the policy announced in October addresses the requirements of a period when hectic business activity takes place. The policy is usually keenly awaited as it sets the rules and regulations for the Indian banking sector for the next half year or so. The Annual Monetary and Credit Policy announced in April/May and the Mid-term Review in October/ November serve several purposes e.g. (i) as a framework for or supplement to the monetary and other relevant measures that are taken from time to time to capture events affecting macroeconomic assessments, in particular relating to fiscal management as well as seasonal factors; and (ii) to set out the logic, intentions and actions related to the structural and prudential aspects of the financial sector in our country. Further, the biannual Statements add to greater transparency, better communication and contribute to an effective consultation process. Through these Policy announcements, RBI usually covers the following areas :- (a) Domestic Developments : These include the GDP, inflation / price, money supply, food and non-food credit, data etc during the last year or so and the projections for the same for the forthcoming period. The behavior of various markets and the likely scenario on interest rates front etc. (b) External Developments : The global economic scenario during the last year and the likely impact of the major concerns at the global level. The movements of the rupee vs major currencies of the world and the concerns for foreign exchange reserves etc. Major achievements or deficiencies in export and import sectors. (c) Measures to be initiated for economic growth etc. : The policy announcments give brief details of various measures already initiated or likely to be initiated for financial sectors. These include changes in SLR, CRR, Bank Rate etc. The major policy steps for risk management, control of credit, customer services also form part of the policy announcements.


Money Laundering What is money laundering?Money Laundering is the process by which large amounts of illegally obtained money (from drug trafficking, terrorist activity or other serious crimes) is given the appearance of having originated from a legitimate source. Money laundering involves disguising financial assets so that they can be used without detection of the illegal activity that produced them. Through money laundering, the launderer transforms the monetary proceeds derived from criminal activity into funds with an apparently legal source Thus, we can say Money Laundering' is the introduction of illegally gained assets into the legal financial system with the aim of covering up its true origin. Some estimate annual amounts of laundered money exceed $500 billion in the world. The major objectives of Money Laundering activities are:

(a) Concealing the true ownership of illegally-obtained money and (b) Placement, layering and integration of such funds

The concept of Money Laundering can be traced back to the “Hawala” transactions well known in India for long time now. Hawala mechanism facilitates the conversion of money from black to white. "Hawala" is an Arabic word meaning the transfer of money or information between two persons using a third person. The Hawala mechanism usually does not leave any paper trail and thus is a nightmare for the investigative agencies. The profits generated from Hawala transactions are covertly invested in real estate, films etc. so as to launder them. A few years back it was thought of only petty crime, but with the changed circumstances, especially after terrorist activities after September 11, 2001 attack on World Trade Centre, money laundering is considered as a very serious crime. Worldwide special Acts have been passed to check such activities. The criminals have developed number of methods for the purpose of "Structuring" and "Laundering" currency in the process of converting it from "dirty" to "clean" funds. The major risk to a bank is in the potential for complicity and violation of Acts if such funds are channeled through that Bank. MONEY LAUNDERING PREVENTION IN INDIA In India, a number of Acts have existed which played the role of prevention of money laundering, though these were not so named. However, in India, we have certain statutes, as given below that incorporate measures which attempt to address the problems of money laundering:-

• The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974;

• The Income Tax Act, 1961 • The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 • The Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 • The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 • The Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances

Act, 1988 In November, 2002, PARLIAMENT approved the long-pending legislation to prevent the offence of money laundering. The President gave its assent to the Bill in January, 2003. The Bill was originally passed in December 1999 by the Lok Sabha and sent to the Rajya Sabha. The Upper House approved the Bill in July 2002 with amendments suggested by the Select Committee. The Bill in its modified form is, however, regarded as a diluted version of the original one. This is because the definition of the offence of money-laundering itself has been watered down.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 33 Money Laundering Act is an endorsement of various international conventions to which India is a party, and it seeks to declare laundering of monies carried through serious crimes a criminal offence. The Act also lists modalities of disclosure by financial institutions regarding reportable transactions, confiscation of the proceeds of crime, declaring money laundering as an extraditable offence and promoting international cooperation in investigation of money laundering. The Act allows for confiscation of property derived from or involved in money laundering. Co-operative banks, non-banking financial companies, chit funds and housing financial institutions come under its ambit. The Act also makes it mandatory for banking companies, financial institutions and intermediaries to maintain a record of all transactions of a prescribed value and to furnish information whenever sought within a prescribed time period. Thus, these entities are required to maintain the record of the transactions for 10 years. The minimum threshold limit for certain categories of offences under the Indian Penal Code and other legislations has been fixed at Rs 30 lakh in the Bill. This limit is further likely to be reduced to Rs.10 lakh. What is a Money Laundering offence? Whosoever directly or indirectly attempts to indulge or knowingly assists or knowingly is a party or is actually involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime and projecting it as untainted property shall be guilty of offence of money laundering What are proceeds of crime? Proceeds of crime means any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by any person as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence or the value of any such property What is a Scheduled Offence? Scheduled offence means an offence specified under Part A of the Schedule, or the offences specified under Part B of the Schedule if the total value involved in such offences is thirty lakh rupees or more Egmont Group The Egmont Group serves as an international network fostering improved communication and interaction among FIUs. Egmont Group is named after the venue in Brussels where the first such meeting of FIUs was held in June of 1995. The goal of the Egmont Group is to provide a forum for FIUs around the world to improve support to their respective governments in the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes. This support includes:

expanding and systematizing international cooperation in the reciprocal exchange of financial intelligence information,

increasing the effectiveness of FIUs by offering training and personnel exchanges to improve the expertise and capabilities of personnel employed by FIUs,

fostering better and secure communication among FIUs through the application of technology, presently via the Egmont Secure Web (ESW), and

promoting the establishment of FIUs in those jurisdictions without a national anti-money laundering/terrorist financing program in place, or in areas with a program in the beginning stages of development

Source: FIU, India


PARTICIPATORY NOTES What are PNs: Participatory Notes (PNs) are instruments used by foreign funds, and foreign institutional investors for trading in the domestic market, who are not registered with SEBI, but are interested in taking exposures in Indian securities market. PNs are bascially contract notes and are issued by foreign institutional investors, registered in India, to their overseas clients who may not be eligible to invest in the Indian stock markets. Such foreign institutional investors (FIIs) invest funds in Indian stock market, on the behalf of such investors, who prefer to avoid making disclosures required by various regulators. The associates of these FIIs generally issue these notes overseas. Thus, we can say PNs are issued where the underlying assets are securities listed on the Indian stock exchanges. And this route is mainly used by FIIs not registered with the SEBI. Who does the System Work : The investors, who buy PNs, actually deposit their funds in the accounts of the FIIs (who are eligble to operate in India) in US or European countries. Such FII then buys stocks in the domestic market on behalf of those investors on their proprietary account. In this case, the FII or the broker acts like an exchange and it executes the trade and uses its internal accounts to settle the trade. This helps keeping the investor's name anonymous. Why was PNs in news in Recent Days : The year 2003, witnessed a bull run. One of the reasons for such a Bull run was the huge influx of foriegn funds in the Indian stock market. In view of the fact that using the route of PNs does not disclose the actual investors, there was anxity among the regulators and the tax authorities. This is the main reason, why capital market regulators dislike P-notes. Some other similar instruments include equity-linked notes, capped return note, participatory return notes and investment notes. The flow of funds in the stock market during 2003 by such route was unregulated and this caused a lot of volatility in the market. What are the major amendments introduced by SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) (Amendment) Regulations, 2004 In September 2003, The Securities and Exchange Board of India amended regulations relating to foreign institutional investors to incorporate a new code of conduct and inserted a clause seeking disclosure of information with regard to participatory notes, instruments used by foreign funds not registered in the country to trade in the domestic market. SEBI has also added a new 10-point code of conduct for foreign institutional investors. The code seeks compliance to good corporate governance standards and Sebi regulations. Vide press Release No. PR 19/2004 Dated 23.01.2004 SEBI reiterated that there is no change in its policy of FII investments in India except by way of strengthening the "know your client" regime. It has been made clear that with effect from 3rd February, 2004, overseas derivative instruments such as Participatory Notes (PNs) against underlying Indian securities can be issued only to regulated entities and further transfers, if any, of these instruments can also be to other regulated entities only. In addition, to facilitate the process of transition, derivative instruments already issued and outstanding against un-regulated entities will not be required to be terminated

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 35 immediately. It has been decided that the said contracts will be permitted to expire or to be wound - down on maturity, or within a period of 5 years, whichever is earlier. Vide notification No. SEBI/LAD/DOP/19023/2004 dated 27.01.2004, after regulation 15, a new regulation has been inserted, effective from 03.02.2004 in SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995, which reads as follows :- "15A. (1) A Foreign Institutional Investor or sub account may issue, deal in or hold, off-shore derivative instruments such as Participatory Notes, Equity Linked Notes or any other similar instruments against underlying securities, listed or proposed to be listed on any stock exchange in India, only in favour of those entities which are regulated by any relevant regulatory authority in the countries of their incorporation or establishment, subject to compliance of "know your client" requirement: Provided that if any such instrument has already been issued, prior to the 3rd February 2004, to a person other than a regulated entity, contract for such transaction shall expire on maturity of the instrument or within a period of five years from 3rd February, 2004, whichever is earlier. (2) A Foreign Institutional Investor or sub account shall ensure that no further down stream issue or transfer of any instrument referred to in sub-regulation (1) is made to any person other than a regulated entity." SEBI has also recently clarified that the following entities would be deemed to be regulated entities for investing in Indian equities through P-Notes:-

1. Any entity incorporated in a jurisdiction that requires filing of constitutional and/or other documents with a registrar of companies or comparable regulatory agency or body under the applicable companies legislation in that jurisdiction

2. Any entity that is regulated, authorised or supervised by a central bank or any other similar body provided that the entity must not only be authorised but also be regulated by the aforesaid regulatory bodies

3. Any entity that is regulated, authorised or supervised by a securities or futures commission or other securities or futures authority or commission in any country, state or territory

4. Any entity that is a member of securities or futures exchanges or other similar self-regulatory securities or futures authority or commission within any country, state or territory.

5. Any individual or entity (such as fund, trust, collective investment scheme, investment company or limited partnership) whose investment advisory function is managed by an entity satisfying the criteria (a), (b) ,(c) or (d) above.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 36 SECURITISATION, ASSET RECONSTRUCTION & ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITY

INTERESTS The popularly known as Securitisation Act is really ‘three in one’ Act. It covers three aspects, namely :- (a) in respect of enforcement of security interest by secured creditor (Banks/Financial institutions) without intervention of Court. (b) Second aspect is transfer of the non-performing assets to asset reconstruction company, which will then dispose of those assets and realise the proceeds. (c) Third aspect is to provide legal framework for securitisation of assets. All three aspects are almost independent of each other. For example, it is possible for a secured creditor to take possession of non performing asset (NPA) and dispose of it himself, without handing it over to asset reconstruction company or securitisation company. Handling it over to asset reconstruction company or securitisation company is at the option of Bank/FI. The law relating to securitisation has almost nothing to do with provisions in respect of enforcement of security interest. Rather usually only a perfectly normal and performing asset which has good credit rating is securitised. Securitisation basically consists of acquisition of ‘financial assets’ (mainly debts or receivables) and not the ‘assets’ themselves. The asset continues with the owner/bank/FI as the case may be. The provisions of ‘asset reconstruction’ combine the features of securitisation and enforcement of security interest. WHY WAS IT NEEDED : Under section 69 of Transfer of Property Act, mortgagee can take possession of mortgaged property and sale the same without intervention of Court only in case of English mortgage. (English Mortgage is where mortgagor binds himself to repay the mortgaged money on a certain date, and transfers the mortgaged property absolutely to the mortgagee, but subject to a proviso that he will re-transfer the property to the mortgagor upon payment of the mortgage money as agreed). Moreover, mortgagee can take possession of mortgaged property where there is a specific provision in mortgage deed and the mortgaged property is situated in towns of Kolkata, Chennai or Mumbai. However, in other cases possession can be taken only with the intervention of court. Thus, till the enactment of this Act, Banks/Financial Institutions had to enforce their security through court. This was a very slow and time-consuming process. There was also no provision in any of the present law in respect of hypothecation, though hypothecation is one of the major security interest taken by the Bank/Financial Institution. In view of the hardships faced by the Banking industry, the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act was enacted with effect from 21.6. 2002. Security Interest means right, title and interest of any kind whatsoever upon property, created in favour of any secured creditor and includes any charge, hypothecation, assignment other than those specified below. Here the Property includes :-

i. Immovable property ii. Movable property iii. Any debt or any right to receive payment of money, whether secured or

unsecured

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 37 iv. Receivables, whether existing or future v. Intangible assets, being know-how, patent, trade mark, licence, franchise or any

other business or commercial right of similar nature. Hypothecation means a charge in or upon any movable property, existing or future, created by a borrower in favour of a secured creditor without delivery of possession of the movable property to such creditor, as a security for financial assistance, and includes floating charge and crystallization into fixed charge on movable property. The following are excluded from 'security interest' :- Provision of the Act shall not apply to the following :

1. A lien on any goods , money or security given by or under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 or the Sale of Goods Act, or any other law for the time being in force.

2. A pledge of movables within the meaning of section 172 of Indian Contract Act, 3. Creation of any security in any aircraft as defined u/s 2(1) of Aircraft Act, 4. Creation of any security interest in any vessel as defined in section 3 (35) of

Merchant Shipping Act. 5. Any conditional sale, hire -purchase or lease or any other contract in which no

security interest has been created. 6. Any right of unpaid seller u/s 47 of Sale of Goods Act. 7. Any properties not liable to attachment or sale under first provision to section

60(1) of Code of Civil Procedures. 8. Any security interest for securing repayment of any financial asset not exceeding

one lakh Rupees. 9. Any security interest creating in agricultural land. 10. Any case in which the amount due to less than 20% of the principal amount and

interest thereon (i.e. where borrower has repaid more than 80% of principal amount and interest. )

SUPREME COURT'S DECISION : In a landmark judgment by Supreme Court on 8th April, 2004, it upheld the constitutional validity of the Security enforcement law -letting banks takover and dispose of secured assets of defaulters, in its verdict on the famous ICICI Bank versus Mardia Chemicals case. However, Court also ruled that the borrower will no longer have to deposit a maximum of 75% of the outstanding loans with the DRT in making an appeal. Thus, now appeal by the borrower has become easier. Under the Act, the secured creditor may also take over the management or appoint any person to manage the assets.


UNIVERSAL BANKING Universal Banks refers to those banks that offer a wide range of financial services, beyond saving accounts and loans, and includes investment banking, insurance etc. Thus, universal banking is a combination of commercial banking, investment banking and various other activities including insurance. They may sell insurance, underwrite securities, and carry out securities transactions on behalf of others. They may own equity interest in firms, including non-financial firms. Universal Bank is quit popular in European Countries as compared to North American, there are generally more restrictions in North America as to what services financial institutions can offer. Till recent times, the financial institutions were doing business on`long term' basis, both on the assets and liabilities sides of the balance sheet, while commercial banks catered to `short term' businesses. This demarcation was quite visible though at times they breached this thin line. However, with the advent of market economy, this gap is being bridged through `universal banking'. The rising NPAs and dearth of avenues for resources for the financial institutions since 1990s, in the wake of falling market sentiments have put these institutions in red. Some of such financial institutions are finding hard to survive in the changed environment. Universal banking has certain advantages and some disadvantages. University Banking mostly results in greater economic efficiency in the form of lower cost, higher output and better products. However large banks will have greater impact if they even fail. Moreover, it is also felt that such institutions, by virtue of their sheer size, could gain monopoly power in the market, and can result in undesirable consequences for economic efficiency. It is also feared that combining commercial and investment banking can gives rise to conflict of interests. Universal banking in India Since independence, Development financial institutions (DFIs) and refinancing institutions (RFIs)in India were created with the specific objective to meet the specific sectoral needs and provide long-term resources at concessional terms. On the other hand, commercial banks were, by and large, restricted themselves to the core banking functions of accepting deposits and providing working capital finance to industry, trade and agriculture. However, after introduction of liberalisation and deregulation of financial sector, the border line started thinning and now it almost does not exist at all. The Narasimham Committee II suggested that Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) should convert ultimately into either commercial banks or non-bank finance companies. In December, 1997, Reserve Bank of India constituted a Working Group under the Chairmanship of Shri S.H. Khan to bring about greater clarity in the respective roles of banks and financial institutions for greater harmonisation of facilities and obligations. The Khan Working Group held the view that DFIS should be allowed to become banks at the earliest. The RBI released a 'Discussion Paper' (DP) in January 1999 for wider public debate. The feedback on the discussion paper indicated that while the universal banking is desirable from the point of view of efficiency of resource use, there is need for caution

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 39 in moving towards such a system by banks and DFIs. Major areas requiring attention are the status of financial sector reforms, the state of preparedness of the concerned institutions, the evolution of the regulatory regime and above all a viable transition path for institutions which are desirous of moving in the direction of universal banking. It is proposed to adopt the following broad approach for considering proposals in this area: The issue of universal banking came to limelight in 2000, when ICICI gave a presentation to RBI to discuss the time frame and possible options for transforming itself into an universal bank. Later on RBI asked financial institutions which are interested to convert them into a universal bank, to submit their plans for transition to a universal bank for consideration and further discussions. FIs need to formulate a road map for the transition path and strategy for smooth conversion into an universal bank over a specified time frame. The plan should specifically provide for full compliance with prudential norms as applicable to banks over the proposed period. Thus Indian financial structure is slowly evolving towards a continuum of institutions rather than discrete specialization. Universal banking is likely to assume the role of a one stop financial supermarket.


BONDS AND DEBENTURES BONDS :

Like normal individuals, even large organizations such as companies, the state and central government and local bodies need to borrow money for expansion or development projects. They issue bonds / debentures to the investors. A bond therefore, is nothing but a fixed income security which will provide a stable return over a fixed period of time but not the fabulous returns that equities or promise. Bonds are, therefore, certificates of debt issued by companies, governments and

other organisations in order to raise funds. Usually, the term bonds is applied to instruments which are medium to long term debt instruments. In some markets these are also known as Notes e.g. Treasury Notes of USA. However, there is no consistency about the tenure of such instruments in world markets. Actually a bond is a promise in which the issuer agrees to pay a certain rate of

interest, usually as a percentage of the bond's face value to the investor at specific periodicity over the life of the bond. Now a days some bonds do not pay a fixed rate of interest but pay interest that is a mark-up on some benchmark rate. This type of bonds are popularly known as "Floating Rate Bonds / Notes". Moreover, sometimes such bonds are issued at a discount to face value and

subsequently redeeming it at par. The difference between the issue price and redemption price represents the interest portion. Such bonds are also known as "Zero Coupon Bonds". In India, usually bonds are issued by PSUs, Public Financial Institutions and

sometimes by corporate. Some of such bonds are approved bonds whereas others are unapproved bonds. The approved bonds are eligible to be considered as investment for the purpose of SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio). The bonds are also sometimes divided into dated and undated bonds

categories. The bonds with no redemption date are called as undated or perpetual or irredeemable bonds.

The rate of interest paid on bonds is popularly known as "coupon rate". The price of bonds fluctuates as interest rates move. DEBENTURES :

Debenture is a debt security issued by a corporation. The debentures are in the nature of loans to a company made by investors, as opposed to loans raised from a bank. On their investments, the investors receive a fixed rate of interest known as coupon rate. In India the debentures are issued by corporate. Debentures may be "secured" or "unsecured". Secured Debentures are secured

against the security of a particular asset. They are termed as "unsecured" if these are raised as a general loan. Debentures may be "convertible" into shares or "redeemable" for cash at a specified future date. A convertible debenture can be converted into either another type of bond / debenture at the given maturity date or the same may be converted into equity as per the terms and conditions of the debentures. Sometimes certain companies even issue convertible debentures in which the right to buy shares at a later date and at a certain price is contained in a separate warrant. Such warrants are usually allowed to be detached from the bonds and can be sold separately.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 41 WHAT AFFECTS THE PRICES OF BONDS AND DEBENTURES ? Three major factors that affect the price of bonds and debentures are the :- (a) Coupon rates of such instruments ; (b) Credit quality / rating of the issuer. (c) maturity period of the bonds The above factors are explained below :- (a) Interest Rates : The price of a debenture is inversely proportional to changes in interest rates. When the interest rates fall down, the price of the existing bonds will increase until the yields become the same as the yields of the new bonds having similar credit quality (b) Credit Quality/Rating : When the credit quality of the issuer deteriorates, the chances of default in interest and principal increases and thus market expects higher interest from the company for taking higher risk, and thus the price of the bond falls and vice versa. (c) Maturity Period of the Bonds : Another factor that determines the price of a bond is the "Maturity Period". A bond with a longer maturity instrument will rise or fall more than a shorter maturity instrument. RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH INVESTMENTS IN DEBENTURES / BONDS : Like all other investments, certain risks are associated with investments made in bonds and debentures. Some of such risks are :- (i) Default Risk / Credit Risk : This risk refers to the risk of default in payment of interest and / or principal on due dates. There can be various reasons for such default e.g. poor performance of the company. To manage such risks, the investor has to be careful while taking decisions for investments in such bonds / debentures. He should use various techniques of analysis of the financial statements of the company. However, this is not always easy for a general investor and he / she is normally swayed by the current trends in the market. This risk can be minimised by an investor on the street, if he / she merely opts to invest only in bonds / debentures which carry good ratings by known rating agencies like CARE, CRISIL, ICRA and FITCH. (ii) Interest Rate Change Risk : Most of the bonds / debentures carry fixed coupon. This means the return on such bonds / debentures is fixed during the tenure of the instrument. However, in the financial market the rate of interests keep on changing on day to day basis. Once an investor has made investments in fixed income bonds / debentures, he is sure to get the returns (barring the default by the issuer), but if the interests rate go up during the tenure of the instrument, he will be loser as he has lost the opportunity of investing at a higher rate of returns. If rate of interests have gone up and he wants to off-load his investment, he will be getting a price below the face value of the instrument and thus his investments also gets eroded. (iii) Purchasing Power Risk : This is another risk associated with almost all kinds of investments. The money received from the fixed income bonds / debentures when redeemed on maturity may not have the same purchasing power as at the time of investment. This happens due to inflation. Sometimes the rate of inflation may be

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 42 even more than the coupon rate on such bonds. In such a situation it is considered as a negative actual returns on the bonds / debentures (iv) Reinvestment risk: It means that if market interest rates change during the tenure of the instrument then intermediate cash flows get reinvested at lower rates of interest (v) Call Option Risk : These days most companies are smart and include a call option in long term deep discount bonds and even in fixed income securities. This option write in small letters about such options. Thus when interest rates actually fall, they will call back the bonds and raise fresh funds at lower rates. In recent years, millions of investors felt cheated, when IDBI recalled their 25 year bonds and investors were left in the lurch. Different Kinds of Yields Used to measure the return on Bonds / Debentures :. Yield is nothing but a measure of return on a bond / debenture. However, financial analysts use various kinds of yields to measure the returns on their investments. Some of the popular type of yields are :- (a) Coupon Rate (b) Current Yield (c) Holding Yield (d) Yield to Maturity (YTM) myths about bonds : (a) Bonds are safe since the returns are assured : As explained above, bonds too carry the default risk. Therefore, this statement needs to be qualified. Poorly rated bonds / debentures or unrated bonds of small companies can be as risky as equities. (b) Government bonds are entirely risk free : This is also not true. There is little doubt that the bonds issued by the Central government are free from default risk, but such bonds do carry the interest rate risk, re-investment risk and erosion of purchasing power risk. (c) A good credit rating is assurance of the health of the bond issuer : This is not always so. One has to remember that credit rating agencies normally rate instruments and not the company per se. Thus a good rating for one instrument not necessarily means that it is good to invest in all instruments of such company.


CBLO - Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligation “Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligation” is popularly known as CBLO. RBI, in its Mid-Term Review of Monetary and Credit Policy for the year 2002-03, announced the introduction of "Collateralised Borrowing and Lending Obligation (CBLO)", as a money market instrument and subsequently issued detailed operative guidelines for the product. Thus, it is a fairly recently developed money market instrument in India (developed by CCIL and approved by RBI) for the benefit of the entities who have either been phased out from inter bank call money market or have been given restricted participation in terms of ceiling on call borrowing and lending transactions and who do not have access to the call money market. Therefore, we can say that CBLO is a discounted instrument available in electronic book entry form for the maturity period ranging from one day to ninety days (can be made available up to one year as per RBI guidelines). Thus, CBLO is a type of derivative debt instrument, securitised by approved bonds lodged with the CCIL through Subsidiary General Account. It is a variant of liquidity adjustment facility, permitted by RBI. It is a tripartite transaction (like repo) involving CCIL as 3rd party, which functions as intermediary or common counter party to borrower as well as lender The main features of CBLO include : • There is an obligation by the borrower to return the money borrowed, at a specified future date; • There is an authority to the lender to receive money lent, at a specified future date with an option/privilege to transfer the authority to another person for value received; • There is an underlying charge on securities held in custody (with CCIL) for the amount borrowed/lent. The participants in this market are banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, mutual funds, primary dealers, NBFCs, non-Government Provident Funds, Corporates etc. The participants open a Constituent SGL (CSGL) Account with CCIL for depositing securities which are offered as collateral / margin for borrowing and lending of funds. Eligible securities are Central Government securities including Treasury Bills. How / Why CBLO is Superior to Repo / Call Money vs. REPO vs. CBLO: There are broadly three channels through which banks in India primarily borrow and lend funds in the overnight market. These are the (a) inter-bank call money market, (b) the market for collateralised borrowing and lending obligations (CBLO) and (c) the repo market. Slowly, banks are now moving to more secured form of lending in the money market i.e. CBLO and repo markets, which have seen volumes rising. However, the risk proposition differs across markets. While funds in the call market are lent on an unsecured basis, both in the CBLO and repo markets, players on the borrowing end need to place securities in the form of collateral. Interest rates, in CBLO and REPO markets, are lower than those in the call market, due to lower risk levels involved. Moreover, banks normally fix internal limits for borrowers and thus they do not lend in call money beyond such internal limits. Such. These limits are fixed by banks based on number of parameters which include the past ratings issued to the borrowers and the net worth of that bank.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 44 Repo has many drawbacks, for example in case of Repos there is no flexibility. The obligations can be squared up only on the due date. Thus, even in case the liquidity position of borrower improves, he cannot `prepay'. Similarly, in case the lender's surplus liquidity position dries up, and he intends to call back the money, he cannot call back his lendings. However, in case of a CBLO holder, he can sell, or, an investor can buy it, at anytime during its tenure. Unlike Repo, where the amount of deals normally runs into several crores, CBLO is in denominations of Rs 50 lakh, and enabling part unwinding also. On the CCIL platform, the borrowers submit their `offers' and lenders their `bids', specifying the discount rate and maturity period. The bids/offers will be through an auction screen called `auction market'. These orders are matched on the basis of the best quotations, allowing, of course, for negotiations." What is CBLO Dealing System : CBLO Dealing System is an automated order driven, on-line matching system provided by CCIL so as to enable Members to borrow and lend funds against under CBLO scheme. It also disseminates information regarding deals concluded, volumes, rate etc., and such other notifications as relevant to CBLO market


WHAT IS SLR? What is CRR? What is BANK RATE?, What are REPO AND REVERSE REPOs? What is difference between CRR and SLR?

What is Bank rate? Bank Rate is the rate at which central bank of the country (in India it is RBI) allows finance to commercial banks. Bank Rate is a tool, which central bank uses for short-term purposes. Any upward revision in Bank Rate by central bank is an indication that banks should also increase deposit rates as well as Prime Lending Rate. This any revision in the Bank rate indicates could mean more or less interest on your deposits and also an increase or decrease in your EMI. What is Bank Rate ? (For Non Bankers) : This is the rate at which central bank (RBI) lends money to other banks or financial institutions. If the bank rate goes up, long-term interest rates also tend to move up, and vice-versa. Thus, it can said that in case bank rate is hiked, in all likelihood banks will hikes their own lending rates to ensure and they continue to make a profit. What is CRR? The Reserve Bank of India (Amendment) Bill, 2006 has been enacted and has come into force with its gazette notification. Consequent upon amendment to sub-Section 42(1), the Reserve Bank, having regard to the needs of securing the monetary stability in the country, can prescribe Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for scheduled banks without any floor rate or ceiling rate. [Before the enactment of this amendment, in terms of Section 42(1) of the RBI Act, the Reserve Bank could prescribe CRR for scheduled banks between 3 per cent and 20 per cent of total of their demand and time liabilities]. RBI uses CRR either to drain excess liquidity or to release funds needed for the economy from time to time. Increase in CRR means that banks have less funds available and money is sucked out of circulation. Thus we can say that this serves duel purposes i.e. it not only ensures that a portion of bank deposits is totally risk-free, but also enables RBI to control liquidity in the system, and thereby, inflation by tying the hands of the banks in lending money. What is CRR (For Non Bankers) : CRR means Cash Reserve Ratio. Banks in India are required to hold a certain proportion of their deposits in the form of cash. However, actually Banks don’t hold these as cash with themselves, but deposit such case with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) / currency chests, which is considered as equivlanet to holding cash with themselves.. This minimum ratio (that is the part of the total deposits to be held as cash) is stipulated by the RBI and is known as the CRR or Cash Reserve Ratio. Thus, When a bank’s deposits increase by Rs100, and if the cash reserve ratio is 9%, the banks will have to hold additional Rs 9 with RBI and Bank will be able to use only Rs 91 for investments and lending / credit purpose. Therefore, higher the ratio (i.e. CRR), the lower is the amount that banks will be able to use for lending and investment. This power of RBI to reduce the lendable amount by increasing the CRR, makes it an instrument in the hands of a central bank through which it can control the amount that banks lend. Thus, it is a tool used by RBI to control liquidity in the banking system. What is SLR? Every bank is required to maintain at the close of business every day, a minimum proportion of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities as liquid assets in the form of cash, gold and un-encumbered approved securities. The ratio of liquid assets to demand and time liabilities is known as Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). Present SLR is

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 46 24%. (reduced w.e.f. 8/11/208, from earlier 25%) RBI is empowered to increase this ratio up to 40%. An increase in SLR also restrict the bank’s leverage position to pump more money into the economy. What is SLR ? (For Non Bankers) : SLR stands for Statutory Liquidity Ratio. This term is used by bankers and indicates the minimum percentage of deposits that the bank has to maintain in form of gold, cash or other approved securities. Thus, we can say that it is ratio of cash and some other approved to liabilities (deposits) It regulates the credit growth in India. What are Repo rate and Reverse Repo rate? Repo (Repurchase) rate is the rate at which the RBI lends shot-term money to the banks. When the repo rate increases borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive. Therefore, we can say that in case, RBI wants to make it more expensive for the banks to borrow money, it increases the repo rate; similarly, if it wants to make it cheaper for banks to borrow money, it reduces the repo rate Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which banks park their short-term excess liquidity with the RBI. The RBI uses this tool when it feels there is too much money floating in the banking system. An increase in the reverse repo rate means that the RBI will borrow money from the banks at a higher rate of interest. As a result, banks would prefer to keep their money with the RBI Thus, we can conclude that Repo Rate signifies the rate at which liquidity is injected in the banking system by RBI, whereas Reverse repo rate signifies the rate at which the central bank absorbs liquidity from the banks.

Bank Rate 6.00% (w.e.f. 29/04/2003)

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)

6.00% (w.e.f. 24/04/2010)

Increased from 5.00% to 5.50% wef 13/02/2010; and then again to 5.75%

wef 27/02/2010; and nowto 6.00% wef 24/04/2010

Statutory Liquidity

Ratio (SLR) 25%(w.e.f.

07/11/2009) Increased from 24% which was continuing since. 08/11/2008

Reverse Repo Rate

3.75% (w.e.f. (20/04/2010)

Increased from 3.25% wef 19/03/2010( which was continuing since 21/04/2009). Now

increased to 3.75% wef 20/04/2010

Repo Rate under LAF

5.25% (w.e.f. 20/04/2010)

Increased from 4.75% to 5% wef 19/03/2010 (which was continuing since 21/04/2009); Now

increased to 5.25% wef 20/04/2010


INDIAN DEBT MARKET

Indian debt market can be broadly classified into two categories, namely debt instruments issued by Central or State Governments and debt instruments issued by Public and Private Sector. Different instruments issued have some prominent features in respect of period of maturity and the investors for such instruments. A gist of the structure of Indian debt market is given below :-

Who Issues Type of Instruments Maturity Periods Who Invests Remarks

GOVERNMENT:-

Central Government

Zero Coupon Bonds; Coupon Bearing GOI securities

1 year to 30 years

Banks, Insurance and PF Trusts, RBI, Mutual Funds, Individuals

Central Government Treasury Bills

91 days and 364 days

Banks, Insurance and PF Trusts, RBI, Mutual Funds, Individuals

State Government

Coupon Bearing State Govt securities

5 years to 10 years

Banks, Insurance and PF Trusts

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR:-

Government Enterprises & PSU Bonds

Govt guaranteed bonds

5 years to 10 years

Banks, Insurance, PF Trusts and Individuals

PSU PSU Bonds, Zero couponbonds

5 years to 10 years

Banks, Insurance, PF Trusts, Corporate amd, Individuals

Private Sector Corporates

Debentures and Bonds

1 year to 12 years

Banks, Corporate, Mutual Funds and Individuals

Private and Public Sector Corporates

Commercial Paper 15 days to 1 year

Banks, Corporate, Mutual Funds, Financial Institutions and Individuals

Banks and FIs Certificate of Deposits

15 days to 3 years

Banks and Corporate


DERIVATIVES What are Derivatives? Derivatives have their origin in mathematics, where it is referred to a variable that has derived it value from another variable. In financial market, derivatives are those financial instruments whose value is derived from the price of some underlying asset, such as stocks, bonds, currencies or commodities. One very interesting example to understand the concept of underlying asset is considering “curd” as a derivative. The price of curd always depends on the price of milk. In other words, we can say the underlying asset on which the value of curd depends is the milk. Example : Let us assume that a farmer wish to contract to sell his rice harvest at a future date so as to eliminate the risk of a change in prices by that time. Such a contract can take place in the Rice Forward Market. The price of such a contract would certainly depend upon the current spot price of the rice. In this transaction, the "rice forward" is the derivative, whereas the rice on the spot market is "the underlying" commodity or asset. Classes of Derivatives – Where Traded : Derivatives are grouped into three categories namely, derivative securities; exchange-traded derivatives; and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives. Types of Underlying Assets :-

(a) Equity shares (b) Interest rates (c) Foreign Exchange (d) Commodities

Different types of Derivatives :- (a) Forwards or Forward Contracts (b) Futures (c) Options (d) Swaps etc.

(A) Forward Contracts / Forwards :- A forward contract is a contract to trade in a particular asset (which may be another security) at a particular price on a pre-specified date. Forward Rate Agreement : It is a financial contract between two parties to exchange interest payments for notional principal amounts on settlement date for a specified period from starting date to settlement date. (B) Futures : Forward contracts, which have the following features, are termed as Futures:

(a) Traded in an Exchange (b) Standardized in terms of quality and quantity

Thus, futures are defined as those forward contracts that are traded on an exchange and where the counter-party is the exchange itself. (C )Options : Options are considered as one-way contract where one party has the right but not the obligation to trade in a particular asset at a particular price on a pre-determined date(s) or in a particular time interval. Thus an option is a contract, which gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation to buy or sell particular assets (for example shares) at a specific price on or before a specific date. ‘Option’, as the word itself suggests, gives the investor a choice to

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 49 exercise the option or not to exercise the same. To acquire this right the buyer of the option has to pay a premium to the writer of the option (option seller) of the contract. Option contracts which can be exercised on or before the expiry date are called "American Options". On the other hand European options can be square off only on the date of expiry. In Indian stock market options on Nifty are actually European Options - meaning that the buyer of these options can exercise his option only on the expiry day. There are two kinds of options: Call Options and Put Options. (i) Call Option

A Call Option is an option to buy a stock at a specific price on or before a certain date. Thus these are considered like security deposits. Thus, we can say that call options give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy the underlying shares at a predetermined price, on or before a predetermined date.

(ii) Put Option Put Options are options to sell a stock at a specific price on or before a certain date. Thus these are sometimes referred as insurance policies Thus, we can say that put options give the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to sell the underlying shares at a predetermined price, on or before a predetermined date.

(D) SWAPS : Swap is defined in number of ways. Simple speaking Swap is a contract between two parties to exchange cash flows in the future according to agreed terms Swaps are used to change the currency or interest rate exposure associated with investments. Thus, we can say swap involves combined or simultaneous buying and selling operation in which two counterparties agree to exchange streams of payments occurring over time according to predetermined terms. To elaborate more, we can say Swap is the simultaneous purchase and sale of the same amount of a given currency for two different dates, against the sale and purchase of another. A swap can be a swap against a forward. In essence, swapping is somewhat similar to borrowing one currency and lending another for the same period. However, any rate of return or cost of funds is expressed in the price differential between the two sides of the transaction. Some of the different types of popular swaps are :- (i) Interest Rate Swaps (IRS) : Interest Rate Swaps are those agreements where one side pays the other a particular interest rate (fixed or floating) and the other side pays the first party other different interest rates (fixed or floating). Thus, we can say IRS allow the entities to move from a fixed interest rate to a floating rate or vice versa in the same currency. IRS is a bilateral financial contract under which the parties agree to pay or receive the difference between an interest rate, fixed in

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 50 advance for the swap tenor, and a floating rate that is based upon an agreed benchmark on a notional principal and for a specified period. These can also be based upon two floating rates based upon different benchmarks. The difference between the rates is settled in cash on a series of payment dates that occur during the life of a swap. Thus, it is a series of FRAs (i.e. Forward Rate Agreements). In interest rate swaps, there are no exchange of principals between the parties. There is only exchange of interest obligations. The principal is notional and is used only to calculate the interest payments between the parties. To understand the whole concept we can consider the following example :-

(ii) Currency Swap : These help the treasury managers to hedge the exchange risk. The currency swaps allow corporate to change both the interest rate profile and currency denominations of its loans. Unlike in interest rate swaps, where only interest payments are exchanged, in a currency swap both interest and principal are exchanged. It involves exchanging principal and interest payment on a loan in one currency for principal and interest payments on an approximately equal loan in another currency, usually at the prevailing spot exchange rate. On maturity of the swap, the respective principals are re-exchanged at the same exchange rate.

(iii) Coupon Swap : This derivative product is like a currency swap with a difference that only the interest components of a loan is exchanged. In this case, the corporate buy the instrument if it is expected that interest rates on the other currency is likely to be lower. Interest rate caps and collar are used. A cap is an option which gives the corporate the right but not the obligation, to exercise it. This derivative product involves a strike price and an upfront premium.


DIVIDEND STRIPPING

"Dividend Stripping" refers to transactions, wherein an investor buys stocks or units of mutual fund just before the record date of dividend (i.e. units are purchasedcum dividend), and then holds the same till the book closure (for dividend) so as to receive the dividend, and then sells these units (ex-dividend).

The above transactions leads to a situation where investor receives a cash dividend but suffers a capital loss (since the ex-dividend price is invariably less than the cum-dividend price). Strictly speaking "Dividend stripping" does not benefit the investor directly in most of the cases, because the dividend he receives is roughly equal to the capital loss suffered in selling the stock or MF units ex dividend. Sometimes he may even suffer marginal loss in the transaction. Yet, investors and corporates undertake dividend stripping as it is a good strategy to avoid paying tax on capital gains earned from other investments in the same period. Thus, "Dividend Stripping" is not a strategy to maximise returns, but one whereby saving can be made on taxes. However, this strategy works only when tax laws ensure that dividends are tax-free in the hands of investor. If dividends are taxable, then this strategy is unlikely to work as the tax saved on capital gains will be set off by the tax payable on the dividend income.

Although the above method is good for individuals or institutions with investible funds but sometimes it throw the mutual fund’s operations out of gear due to huge inflows before the record date and similar large outflows of the entire amount in the following month. Such short-term transactions even hurt long-term investors of such schemes, especially if the corpus involved becomes too high. To avoid such problems, sometimes record date for dividend pay out is fixed by certain Mutual Funds, even prior to the date of announcement of the dividend.


Exchange Traded Funds

Exchange Traded Fund, popularly known as ETFs, are the financial instruments, tradable on a stock exchange, that invests in the stocks of an index in approximately the same proportion as held in the index. ETFs, are a hybrid of open-ended mutual funds and listed individual stocks. In simple terms, ETFs are funds that are listed on stock exchanges and trade like individual stocks. However, unlike mutual funds, ETFs do not sell their shares directly to investors for cash. A securities firm creates ETFs by depositing a basket of stocks. This large block of stocks is called a creation unit. In return for these stocks deposited, the ETF receives shares, which are then offered to investors over the stock exchange. Therefore, ETFs bring the trading and real time pricing advantages of individual stocks to mutual funds. To sum up some of the features of these Funds are :- (a) These are a hybrid of open and close-ended funds; (b) They are listed on the stock exchange (Similar to the close-ended funds); (c) They create and redeem units in keeping with rise and fall in demand (Like open-ended funds). (d) They are passively managed (similar to index funds). Why ETFs score over Index Funds :- (i) The tracking error of ETFs is lower than that of index funds. ETFs are immediately tradable; therefore, the risk of price movement between investment decision and time of trade is substantially less when ETFs are used in lieu of traditional funds. For example, suppose an investor decides to purchase index fund in the early morning via a traditional mutual fund and deposits the money with Mutual Fund at 10.00 AM, but during that day itself index gains 2%. The investor will miss this gain as his MF will allot him units only at the day's closing NAV. However, in case of ETFs the investor can gain by investing at 10.00 AM. (ii) ETFs can be bought and sold at real-time prices during normal trading hours, whereas index funds can at best be purchased at previous day’s closing NAV. Thus one can even take advantage of intra-day movements. The investors can easily monitor price throughout the trading day and can limit his losses etc. (iii) The purchase of ETFs is simple as one does not have to fill up application forms and can be purchased / sold through NSE brokers all over India. These Funds first came into existence in 1993 in the USA. However, it took several years for these Funds to become popular among the general public. But once they did, the volumes took off with a vengeance. Which are the ETFs in India ? (i) Benchmark AMC’s Nifty "Benchmark Exchange Traded Scheme" (BeES). It tracks the S&P CNX Nifty (ii)Junior BeES. It tracks the CNX Nifty Junior Index comprising of mid-cap stocks. (iii) Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund’s SPIcE (Sensex Prudential ICICI ETF) which tracks the BSE Sensex.


INDEX FUTURES What are Index Futures: Index Futures are Future contracts (A futures contract is a forward contract, which is traded on an Exchange) where the underlying asset is the Index. The index futures contracts are based on the popular market benchmark Nifty and S & P index. Both the Bombay Stock exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched index futures in June 2000. This is of great help when one wants to take a position on market movements. Suppose you feel that the markets are bullish and the Sensex would cross 12000 points. Instead of buying shares that constitute the Index you can buy the market by taking a position on the Index Future. Index futures can be used for hedging, speculating, arbitrage, cash flow management and asset allocation. BSE / NSE defines the characteristics of the futures contract such as the underlying index, market lot, and the maturity date of the contract. The futures contracts are available for trading from introduction to the expiry date. Long and short positions indicate whether you have a net over-bought position (long) or over-sold position (short).


MONEY MARKET

NATURE OF MONEY MARKET INSTRUMENTS :

The money market is a market for short term instruments. They are considered as the most liquid of all the investments and are frequently referred as “Near Money Instruments”. The instruments of less than one year maturity is referred to as money market instruments. This market acts as an equilibrating mechanism and helps to deploy or borrow funds for short durations. Although money market is frequently considered as a separate market, but in reality it is only a sub-section of the fixed income bond market. The only difference between the money market and the bond market is that the money market specializes in a short term debt securities and they these are sometimes referred as “cash investments” also. FEATURES OF THE MONEY MARKET INSTRUMENTS :

(a) Maturity of the instruments is less than 1 year (b) They are generally unsecured © dominated by large institutional players (d) issued in the form of - promissory notes / receipt of deposits

TYPES OF MONEY MARKET INSTRUMENTS :

(1) Call Money / Notice Money (2) Term Money (3) Treasury Bills (4) Repo and Reverse Repo (5) Commercial Paper (6) Certificate of Deposits (7) Bills Rediscounting (8) Inter corporate Deposits (9) Liquid Mutual Funds

(1) CALL / NOTICE MONEY : Historically this market has few players and restricted to commercial, cooperative and foreign banks and primary dealers. The Calls are placed for overnight, whereas Notice Money is placed for 2 to 14 days. RBI issues certain guidelines for the call money market so as to avoid volatility in the market and to restrict excessive dependence on this market to meet the long term needs of the institutions. Some Non-banking entities like Financial Institutions, Insurance Cos., Mutual Funds are allowed only as lenders in the Call Money market. (2) TERM MONEY :

Inter-bank market for deposits of maturity exceeding 14 days is called as Term Money deposits. In this market Financial Institutions are granted specific limits by RBI for borrowing. RBI puts restrictions to certain type of identities to borrow in the market. For example, Mutual Funds are not permitted to borrow under term money

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 55 REPO / REVERSE REPO : Repo is short for “Repurchase Agreement”. It is also termed as 'Buy Back', 'RP', or 'Ready Forward' (RF). It is a sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the same on a future date and at a specific price. Institutions like Banks who deal in government securities use this instrument as a form of overnight borrowing. Under this method, a dealer or other holder of government securities sells the securities to a lender and agrees to repurchase them at an agreed future date at an agreed price. They are usually very short-term, from overnight to 30 days or more. This short-term maturity and government backing means repos provide lenders with extremely low risk. Thus, in short, we can say Repo is the sale of a security with a commitment to repurchase the same security at a specified price on a specified date for a pre-determined period.

The term 'REVERSE REPURCHASE AGREEMENT' (Reverse Repo) refers to a repos deal viewed from the perspective of the supplier of funds. In this case, the assets are bought with an agreement to resell them at a fixed price on a future date. Thus transaction is called Repo for the institution who is a borrowing the money and it is “Reverse Repo” for the institution who is lending the money. Term Repo – It is exactly the same as “Repo” except that the period of borrowing / lending is greater than 30 days. COMMERCIAL PAPERS :

These are popularly called “CPs” and are a short term money market instruments comprising of unsecured negotiable short term usance promissory note with fixed maturity issued at discount to the face value. Another important feature of these instruments is that these are freely transferable by endorsement and delivery. Now these can be issued only in demat form. Some other features of these are :- (a) can be issued/ traded in multiples of Rs 5 lacs each (b) minimum networth of the issuing entity should be four crores (c) minimum rating should be AA (d) issued by FIs/ Corporates/ PDs etc. (e) issued for minimum of 15 days, maximum period of 1 year

CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSITS These are popularly called “CDs” and are short term money market instruments comprising of unsecured negotiable short term usance promissory note with fixed maturity issued at discount to the face value. Thus, CD is a negotiable interest-bearing debt instrument of specific maturity issued by banks. They too are freely transferable by endorsement and delivery and are available in physical form. These are issued by banks and FIs to mobilize bulk resources and can be issued / traded in multiples of Rs.5 lacs each. Thus CD represents the title to a TIME DEPOSIT with a bank. However, it is a liquid instrument since it can be traded in the Secondary Market. It is issued with a maturity of less than one year and is issued at a discount from the face value. Interest is the difference between the issue price and the face value, which the holder receives at maturity.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 56 BILLS REDISCOUNTING :

As per recommendations of the Narasimhan Committee, all licensed scheduled commercial banks are eligible to rediscount with RBI, genuine trade bills arising out of sale/ purchase of goods. Maturity date of the bill can fall within 90 days of rediscounting. Primary Dealers are also permitted to rediscount bills.

INTER-CORPORATE DEPOSITS :

It is a deposit made by one corporate having surplus funds with another Corporate/Institution. Such deposits are governed by Section 372A of The Companies Act,1956. These are Non negotiable/ non transferable. Thus, they have no secondary market. Interest rate can be fixed /floating and is decided by the parties.

Types of Treasury Bills:

These are issued by RBI for different maturities, but not exceeding 364 days. At present RBI issues only 91 days and 364 days Treasury Bills. These TBills, as they are popularly known in the market, are issued at discount to face value by RBI for funding the short term requirement of Central Government. The payment of discount and repayment of Principle is guaranteed by central government

Some of the special features of investment In Treasury Bills are as follows :-

(a) Highly liquid money market instrument(b) Zero default risk(c) No tax deducted at source(d) Good returns especially in the short term

LIQUID MUTUAL FUNDS : These are new instruments for the Indian money market. The institutions and individuals with large surpluses can use this mode. They are unsecured money market instruments and funds are generally invested for few weeks, but exit from the Fund is usually available at a 24 hour notice. Net Asset Value is declared by the Mutual Fund on daily basis. Returns fluctuate with rise and fall of the financial markets.


UNDERSTANDING MUTUAL FUNDS WHAT IS A MUTUAL FUND : Mutual fund is a kind of trust that manages the pool of money collected from various investors and it is managed by a team of professional fund managers (usually called an Asset Management Company) for a small fee. The investments by the Mutual Funds are made in equities, bonds, debentures, call money etc., depending on the terms of each scheme floated by the Fund. The current value of such investments is calculated almost on daily basis and the same is reflected in the Net Asset Value (NAV) declared by the funds from time to time. This NAV keeps on changing with the changes in the equity and bond market. Therefore, the investments in Mutual Funds is not risk free, but a good managed Fund can give you regular and higher returns than when you can get from fixed deposits of a bank etc. The income earned through these investments and the capital appreciation realised by the scheme are shared by its unit holders in proportion to the number of units owned by them. Mutual funds can thus be considered as financial intermediaries in the investment business who collect funds from the public and invest on behalf of the investors. The losses and gains accrue to the investors only. The Investment objectives outlined by a Mutual Fund in its prospectus are binding on the Mutual Fund scheme. The investment objectives specify the class of securities a Mutual Fund can invest in. Mutual Funds invest in various asset classes like equity, bonds, debentures, commercial paper and government securities. WHAT IS AN ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY An Asset Management Company (AMC) is an orgnisation that manages the Mutual Fund schemes and charge a small management fee ( normally about 1.5 per cent of the total funds managed.) WHAT IS NET ASSET VALUE (NAV)? NAV or Net Asset Value of the fund is the cumulative market value of the assets of the fund net of its liabilities. NAV per unit is simply the net value of assets divided by the number of units outstanding. Buying and selling into funds is done on the basis of NAV-related prices. It is calculated as follows: NAV= Market value of the fund’s investments + Receivables +Accrued Income– Liabilities-Accrued Expenses _______________________________________________________________________ Number of Outstanding units WHY SHOULD ONE INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS RATHER THAN DIRECTLY INVEST IN SHARES?

1. Investors usually have only reasonable capabilities to read the markets correctly. To properly assess the various financial markets, a professional analytical approach is required in addition to access to research and information and time and methodology. Qualified and experienced professionals are hired by Mutual Funds who are able to give better results

2. Mutual Funds are able to diversify their investment portfolio due to huge amount of funds at their disposal whereas a small investor has to invest his money only a few scrips. Thus MFs provide the small investors with an


opportunity to invest in a larger basket of securities.

3. The investor is spared of the time and effort required for daily f tracking the price movements.

4. Investors can invest even small amounts 5. In case of open-ended funds, the investment is very liquid as it can be redeemed

at any time with the fund unlike direct investment in stocks/bonds. ARE INVESTMENTS IN MFs IS RISK FREE ? No. Investment in MFs is not risk free and Mutual Funds are not allowed to launch schemes to provide assured returns. The returns by MFs are linked to their performance. WHERE DO THE MFs INVEST THEIR FUNDS : MFs invest their funds in shares, debentures, commercial papers, call money deposits etc. Most of these investments have some sort of risk - credit risk and market risk. The returns by MFs is dependent on the returns on such investments. TYPES OF MUTUAL FUND SCHEMES : Mutual Funds can be categoried into different categories based on different criterias. Some of the popular criteria adopted for classifying these Funds are as follows : (a) On the basis of Objective (i) Equity Funds/ Growth Funds These Funds invest their funds mainly in equity shares. Their main Objective is the growth through capital appreciation over a period ranging from medium to long-term. The returns in such funds carry maximum risk as their performance is usually directly linked to the returns on the stock markets. These are usually considered as best for investors who are young and have capacity to bear risk Based on the objectives of the investments these funds are named as :

• Sector funds: These funds invest mainly in equity shares of companies of a particular sector or industry. These funds give the best returns if that particular sector shows growth. They are also highest risk as downward trend in the sectors will result in negative returns.

• Balanced Funds : As the name suggests, these funds invest both in equity shares and fixed-income-bearing instruments (debt) in some proportion. These Funds are usually able to provide a steady return as the investment in fixed income bonds reduces the volatility of the funds They are best suited for investors who are willing to take moderate risks in a span of medium- to long-term

• Diversified funds : These funds invest in shares of companies in different sectors

• Index funds: These funds invest mainly on a similar pattern as that of Nifty or BSE 30. The returns on these fund normally in line with the returns of the index to which these are benchmarked.

• Tax Saving Funds : Such Funds offer tax benefits to investors under the Income Tax Act. U/s 80C or Capital Gains U/s 54EA and 54EB. They are best suited for investors who wants to invest in equities and save tax too.

• Debt / Income Funds : These Funds invest predominantly in high-rated fixed-income-bearing instruments like bonds, debentures, government securities,


commercial paper and other money market instruments. The investment in these Funds is better suited for investors who do not want to take high risk but are ready to accept lower returns but seek capital preservation. These Funds usually are able to provide regular income to the investors. These funds are best suited for people who are near retirement and want to take only minimal risk.

• Liquid Funds / Money Market Funds : These funds invest in highly liquid money market instruments. The returns are quite low but are also least risky. These are short term investments and can be as short as a day for high networth individuals. They are the most liquid for MFs as they can get these encashed at the shortest possible time. These funds are usually used by high networth individuals, Corporate, institutional investors and business houses who have surplus funds for few days only.

• Gilt Funds : These funds invest only in credit risk free instruments like Central and State Government bonds . The funds in these schemes are considered as safe bets as investments are in government guaranteed bonds. However, these too carry interest rate risk and may at times give very low or negative returns too over a short period.

• Hedge Funds : These funds adopt highly speculative trading strategies. They hedge risks in order to increase the value of the portfolio.

(ii) On the basis of Flexibility Open-ended Funds These funds do not have a fixed date of redemption. Generally they are open for subscription and redemption throughout the year. Their prices are linked to the daily net asset value (NAV). From the investors' perspective, they are much more liquid than closed-ended funds. Investors are permitted to join or withdraw from the fund after an initial lock-in period. Close-ended Funds : These funds are open initially for entry during the Initial Public Offering (IPO) and thereafter closed for entry as well as exit. These funds have a fixed date of redemption. One of the characteristics of the close-ended schemes is that they are generally traded at a discount to NAV; but the discount narrows as maturity nears. These funds are open for subscription only once and can be redeemed only on the fixed date of redemption. The units of these funds are listed (with certain exceptions), are tradable and the subscribers to the fund would be able to exit from the fund at any time through the secondary market. Interval funds : These funds combine the features of both open–ended and close-ended funds wherein the fund is close-ended for the first couple of years and open-ended thereafter. Some funds allow fresh subscriptions and redemption at fixed times every year (say every six months) in order to reduce the administrative aspects of daily entry or exit, yet providing reasonable liquidity. (iii) On the basis of geographic location : Domestic funds : These funds mobilise the savings of nationals within the country. Offshore Funds : These funds facilitate cross border fund flow. They invest in securities of foreign companies. They attract foreign capital for investment.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 60 Different Types of Mutual Fund Plans : A number of funds have different plans under the same scheme, e.g. Growth Plan and Dividend Plan. For both the types of plans the funds are invested in the same portfolio, but distribution of the returns is different. (a) Growth Plan and Dividend Plan : Growth Plan is a plan under which, the returns from investments are reinvested and income is usually not distributed The investor thus only realizes capital appreciation on the investment by sale of units. On the other hand, under the Dividend Plan, income is distributed from time to time. (b) Dividend Reinvestment Plan : Dividend plans of schemes carry an additional option for reinvestment of income distribution. This is referred to as the dividend reinvestment plan. Under this plan, dividends declared by a fund are reinvested on behalf of the investor, thus increasing the number of units held by the investors. (c) Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) :Also called Automatic Investment Plan (AIP) - The investor under this Plan have the option for investing at specified periodicity in a specified scheme of the Mutual Fund for a constant sum of investment. This helps the investors to capture the high and lows of the market and become less risky. (d) Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) : Also called as Automatic Withdrawal Plan (AWP) allows the investors to withdraw a pre-determined amount from his fund at a pre-determined interval. What is meant by Entry / Exit Load in a MF Scheme ? Load is nothing but the charges collect from the investors funds either on entry and/or exit from a scheme It is charged to cover processing fee and the up-front cost incurred by the AMC for selling the fund. Some schemes may not charge any entry or exit load or may charge only one of these loads. Funds usually charge an entry load ranging between 1.00% and 2.00%. Exit loads vary between 0.25% and 2.00%. The investors who want short term investments must ensure that the scheme where they intend to invest either have "No Load" or it is bare minimum. A high load can give negative returns even if the NAV of the fund has gone up during the period of investment. What is Meant by Purchase Price of Units ? Purchase price is the price paid to purchase a unit of the fund. If the fund has no entry load, then the sales price by MF / purchase price for the investor will be the same as the NAV. If the fund levies an entry load, then the purchase price would be higher than the NAV to the extent of the entry load levied. What is Redemption Price : Redemption price is the price received on selling units of open-ended scheme. If the fund does not levy an exit load, the redemption price will be same as the NAV. The redemption price will be lower than the NAV in case the fund levies an exit load. What is meant by Redemption Price : Repurchase price is the price at which a close-ended scheme repurchases its units. Repurchase can either be at NAV or can have an exit load.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 61 WHAT IS SHUT PERIOD ? Trustee reserves a right to declare Shut-Out period not exceeding 5 days at the end of each month / quarter / half-year for the investors opting for payment of dividend under the respective Dividends Plans. Shut-Out period is declared to facilitate the the Registrar to determine the unit holders who are eligible for receipt of dividend. Shut-Out period also helps in expeditious processing and despatch of dividend warrants. During the Shut-Out period investors are allowed to make purchases into the Scheme but the Purchase Price for subscription of units is calculated using the NAV as at the end of the first Business Day after the shut period. What are the Lock in Period for Various schemes Open ended schemes usually do not have any lock in period. Some close ended schemes have a minimum lock in period. However, Tax Saving Schemes have a minimum lock-in period in terms of the tax laws The lock-in period for different tax saving schemes are as follows:

IT Section Lock-in period U/s 80C 3 yrs. U/s 54EA 3 yrs. U/s 54EB 7 yrs.

Name the Factors Who Affect / Influence the Performance of the Mutual Funds? The performances of Mutual funds depends on number of factors, viz stock market performance; overall growth in the economy; interest rates in the economy and credit quality. Fund Manager's experience and expertise also plays a major role in the performance of the MFs, especially in balanced and diversified funds.

WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE AN INVESTOR IN CHOOSING A PARTICULAR SCHEME : Choice of any scheme would depend to a large extent on the investor's profile - viz his preferences and capacity to take risk; age profile etc. Investors who are prepared to undertake risks, usually prefer equity funds. as they offer the possibility of maximum returns. On the other hand, Debt funds are suited for those investors who prefer safety and regular income. Balanced funds are better bet for medium- to long-term investors who are prepared to take moderate risks. Liquid funds are ideal for high networth individuals, corporate, institutional investors and business houses who have surplus funds for very short periods. Tax Saving Funds are best for those investors who want to avail tax benefits and are ready to take risk by investing in equities LIST THE RIGHTS OF A UNIT HOLDER / AS INVESTOR IN MUTUAL FUND SCHEME : As per SEBI Regulations on Mutual Funds, an investor is entitled to a) Receive information about the investment policies, investment objectives, financial position and general affairs of the scheme; b) Receive Unit certificates or statements of accounts confirming your title within 6 weeks from the date your request for a unit certificate is received by the Mutual Fund. c). Receive dividend within 42 days of their declaration and receive the redemption or repurchase proceeds within 10 days from the date of redemption or repurchase

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 62 d) The trustees shall be bound to make such disclosures to the unit holders as are essential in order to keep them informed about any information which may have an adverse bearing on their investments. e) 75% of the unit holders with the prior approval of SEBI can terminate the AMC of the fund. f) 75% of the unit holders can pass a resolution to wind-up the scheme. g) An investor can send complaints to SEBI, who will take up the matter with the concerned Mutual Funds and follow up with them till they are resolved.


VALUATION OF SECURITIES Classification and Valuation of approved securities for SLR : Classification (i) The entire investment portfolio of the banks (including SLR securities and non-SLR securities) should be classified under three categories viz. 'Held to Maturity', 'Available for Sale' and 'Held for Trading'. However, in the Balance Sheet, the investments will continue to be disclosed as per the existing six classifications viz. a) Government securities, b) Other approved securities, c) Shares, d) Debentures & Bonds, e) Subsidiaries/joint ventures and f) Others (CP, Mutual Fund Units, etc.). (ii) Banks should decide the category of the investment at the time of acquisition and the decision should be recorded on the investment proposals. Valuation of securities for SLR Held to Maturity (a) Investments classified under Held to Maturity category need not be marked

to market and will be carried at acquisition cost unless it is more than the face value, in which case the premium should be amortised over the period remaining to maturity.

(b) Banks should recognise any diminution, other than temporary, in the value of their investments in subsidiaries/ joint ventures which are included under Held to Maturity category and provide therefor. Such diminution should be determined and provided for each investment individually.

Available for Sale The individual scrips in the Available for Sale category will be marked to market at the quarterly or at more frequent intervals. While the net depreciation under each classification referred to at 3.2(i) above should be recognised and fully provided for, the net appreciation under each classification should be ignored. The book value of the individual securities would not undergo any change after the revaluation. Held for Trading The individual scrips in the Held for Trading category will be marked to market at monthly or at more frequent intervals as in the case of those in the Available for Sale category. The book value of the individual securities in this category would not undergo any change after marking to market.


TREASURY – STOCK MARKET Stock is a share in the ownership of a company. Stock is also popularly known as “equity” or “shares”. Broadly speaking, shares fall into two categories, namely “Equity Shares” and “Preference Shares”. Equity Shares constitute the ownership capital of a company. The equity holder has the right of voting and is entitled to dividend whenever the profits of the company are distributed. Preference Shares are a hybrid of equity shares and a fixed income instruments. The preference share holders also enjoy the ownership rights like equity holders, but they do not have voting rights except in respect of certain resolutions affecting their rights or when their dividends are due are in arrears for the last two financial years. However, they are entitled to get fixed dividend before any dividend is declared to the equity share holders. As these shares have preferred rights for payment of dividend over the equity holders, they are called Preference Shares. Moreover, they also enjoy preferential right over equity holders in respect of payment of capital in the unlikely event of winding up of the company. However, this right is subject to the claims of the creditors. There are different types of Preference shares, e.g. :

(a) Redeemable and Non-Redeemable preference shares; (b) Cumulative and Non-cumulative preference shares; (c) Participating and Non-participating preference shares; (d) Convertible and Non-Convertible preference shares

Primary Market and Secondary Market : When shares are bought in an IPO or public issue, the buying of such shares is called as buying from the Primary Market. The purchase of shares from the primary market does not involve the stock exchanges. When an investor buys shares from another investor at the market price, it is called as buying from the secondary market. The secondary market operations usually involve the stock exchanges. In India, both the primary as well as secondary markets are governed by the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI). IPO & Other Public Issues (Primary Market) : The full form of IPO is “Initial Public Offering”. IPO is the sale of shares by a company to the public for the first time. In general parlance people say that company is 'going public. However companies like GAIL, ONGC which were already listed on Indian stock exchanges, offered their shares to public, the issue was still called IPO. It was due to the reason that the majority stockholder in such companies was government till then and it was for the first time the public was offered shares as part of PSU disinvestment. Some of the features which are of relevance to the investors interested in applying for IPOs and other public issues are as follows :-

(a) To apply to an IPO you have to fill an IPO application form. (b) Some IPOs offer only demat form of shares, while others offer both demat

as well as regular (physical) shares. In case the shares will be allotted only in demat form, the investor must have a Demat account with one of the Depository Participants.

(c) Applying in an IPO or public issue in the primary market does not assure an investor of allotment of shares.


(d) There is equal risk that the price of the share bought through IPO or public issue may get listed at below the offer price or may fall below the offer price within a few days or weeks of the listing.

MAJOR STOCK EXCHANGES (Secondary Market) : Secondary market is that segment of financial markets wherein the securities that have already been issued are traded. Thus the secondary market comprises of security exchanges. Stock exchange is a place where equity shares, debentures and other securities are traded. Originally these exchanges were established by individuals for the purpose of assisting, regulating and controlling the business of buying, selling the securities and to protect their own interest. In India the first stock exchange was established in Bombay (now known as Mumbai) in 1875, which was followed by another Exchange at Ahmedabad in 1894. Later on number of other stock exchanges were established all over India and there number was more than 20. A company which intends to allow the trading of its shares or debentures needs to get it listed on the concerned stock exchange. Each stock exchange has laid down certain terms and conditions to be fulfilled by the company intending to list itself. Moreover, it has to pay the listing fee and renewal fees as per the rules and regulation of the concerned stock exchange. Some of the features which are of relevance to the investors interested in buying / selling shares through secondary market are as follows :-

(a) There are two basic methods used by the investors to trade (buy / sell) in shares listed on the Indian stock markets:- (i) Through a broker / sub-broker; (ii) Online Trading : This type of trading is through an Internet site, where

bank account having funds and demat account are electronically integrated. Some of the sites offering the type of trading are ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank.

(b) In both the cases, the investor has to place an order for purchase / selling of the securities. In case it is through broker, the order can be placed by visiting the broker or through telephone. However, for online trading the order needs to be placed through computer having internet facility. Investors can either place the order at the market price i.e. the current trading price or a limit order (a specific price band or level decided by the investor at which the shares should be bought or sold).

(c) Once the order is executed on the exchange i.e. shares have been bought or sold at the specified, the broker will issue the Broker Note containing a code number given by the concerned exchange.

(d) After order has been executed the broker asks the investors for delivery of securities (in case of sale) or payment of money(in case purchase of the shares). This has to be completed immediately as now a days settlements take place on rolling settlement basis.

(e) Soon the shares will be delivered in your demat account in case you have purchased the shares or you will receive the payment in case you have sold the shares.

Stock Exchanges in India : OTCEI, NSE AND BSE : Over the Counter Exchange of India (OTCEI) (http://www.otcei.net) : was incorporated in 1990 as a Section 25 company under the Companies Act 1956 and is recognized as a stock exchange under Section 4 of the Securities Contracts Regulation Act, 1956.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 66 The Exchange was set up to aid enterprising promoters in raising finance for new projects in a cost effective manner and to provide investors with a transparent & efficient mode of trading. OTCEI introduced many novel concepts to the Indian capital markets such as screen-based nationwide trading, sponsorship of companies, market making and scripless trading. The exchange has assisted in providing capital for enterprises that have gone on to build successful brands for themselves like VIP Advanta, Sonora Tiles & Brilliant mineral water, etc. OTCEI was promoted jointly by the ICICI, UTI, IFCI, IDBI, SBI Capital Markets Ltd., Canbank Financial Services Ltd., the General Insurance Corp. and LIC. One of the objectives of this Exchange to provide a less expensive method of getting the shares listed for trading and for raising capital from the market. OCTEI is the only exchange which allows listing of companies with paid-up below Rs.3 crores. Thus small companies can make best use of this Exchange. One of the advantages of trading on OTCEI is that it offers greater liquidity through hybrid trading (market making and order book system) It was expected to a watershed in the stock trading in India. However, after aggressive marketing of NSE, this Exchange has lost most of its shine and the experiment appears to be not of much success. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) / Mumbai Stock Exchange (http://www.bseindia.com) : The Stock Exchange at Mumbai is popularly known as "BSE". It was established in 1875 as "The Native Share and Stock Brokers Association". It is the oldest one in Asia, even older than the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is a voluntary non-profit making Association of Persons (AOP). Over the years, it has evolved into its present status as the premier Stock Exchange in the country. It is the first Stock Exchange in the Country to have obtained permanent recognition in 1956 from the Govt. of India under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956. A Governing Board having 20 directors is the apex body at BSE. It decides the policies and regulates the affairs of the Exchange. The Governing Board consists of 9 elected directors, who are from the broking community (one third of them retire ever year by rotation), three SEBI nominees, six public representatives and an Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer and a Chief Operating Officer. BSE has objective to provide an efficient and transparent market for trading in securities, debt and derivatives. It also strives to upholds the interests of the investors and educate and enlighten them by conducting investor education programmes and making available to them necessary informative inputs. BSE has also now become screen based trading Exchange. The scrips traded on the BSE have been classified into 'A', 'B1', 'B2', 'C', 'F' and 'Z' groups. The 'A' group shares represent those, which are in the carry forward system (Badla). The 'F' group represents the debt market (fixed income securities) segment. The 'Z' group scrips are the blacklisted companies. The 'C' group covers the odd lot securities in 'A', 'B1' & 'B2' groups and Rights renunciations. National Stock Exchange (NSE) (http://www.nseindia.com) : NSE was established in Mumbai in November, 1992 by IDBI and other all Indian Financial Institutions. Initially it started with the trading in wholesale Debt Market and later on started the equity trading in 1994. In 2000, it has started the trading in derivative segment. The NSE has been set up to ensure equal access to the capital market to investors from all over the country. The Exchange, with more than 9000

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 67 trading terminals across the country has won the confidence of the investors in short duration. The use the latest technology for fully screen based trading system has helped the NSE to eliminate the physical trading floor. The screen based trading system ensures transparency and helps the investors to get the best price. The settlement system has been made much more efficient and quick. The latest technology and communications have made the NSE the leading Exchange of India BSE vs NSE : In addition to BSE and NSE, there are 22 Regional Stock Exchanges. However, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE) are the two primary exchanges in India at present. These two Exchanges have established themselves as the two leading exchanges and account for over 80 per cent of the equity volume traded in India. The competition between NSE and BSE has become real hot and both are trying to have an edge over the other. BSE has more number of listed companies, whereas the NSE has less number of listed companies. BSE has also broken the barrier of being Mumbai based Exchange as its terminals are spread all over India. Both the exchanges have switched over from the open outcry trading system to a fully automated computerized mode of trading. The systems on two exchanges are known by different names, i.e. (i) BOLT (BSE On Line Trading) and (ii) NEAT (National Exchange Automated Trading) System. It facilitates more efficient processing, automatic order matching, faster execution of trades and transparency. Both the Exchanges are closed on Saturdays and Sundays. In case of both the exchanges, the key regulator governing the exchanges is SEBI. . NYSE AND NASDAQ : These two exchanges are well known stock exchanges in the financial world. They are in North America and these account for a major portion of the world’s stock market tradings. Some of the major features of these Exchanges makes them different from each other. Some of these dis-similarities between two exchanges are :-

(a) NYSE is located in New York and all trades that take place in this Exchange actually occur on the trading floor of the NYSE. Thus, NYSE has physical location and the brokers trade on the floor of the Exchange. On the other hand, the Nasdaq does not have trading floor in physical mode, but it is a Exchange on a telecommunications network. Here brokers are not present on the trading floor, but trading takes place directly between investors and their buyers or sellers, who are the market makers through a electronic network.

(b) NYSE is an auction market, where individuals buy and sell the shares between one another. The transactions are auction based where the highest bidding price is matched with the lowest asking price. On the other hand, the Nasdaq is a dealer’s market where market participants do not buy or sell to one another, but they buy or sell to and from a dealer. Such dealers are known as market makers.

(c) It is generally believed that the companies listed on NYSE are established and stable companies. A number of stocks listed on NYSE are from blue chip companies. On the other hand, the companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange are considered to belong to high-tech market dealing in new age of internet or electronics. These stocks are considered to be more growth oriented but highly volatile.


(d) NYSE is a privately owned by shareholders, whereas NASDAQ is a public corporation.

What are rights of a shareholder: An individual share holder enjoys the following rights :- (i) To receive the share in physical / electronic form (ii) To receive copies of the Annual Report containing the Balance Sheet, the Profit & Loss account and the Auditor’s Report. (iii) To participate and vote in general meetings either personally or through proxy. (iv) To receive dividends in due time once approved in general meetings. (v) To receive corporate benefits like rights, bonus etc. once approved. (vi)To apply to Company Law Board (CLB) to call or direct the Annual General Meeting. (vii) To inspect the minute books of the general meetings and to receive copies thereof. (viii) To proceed against the company by way of civil or criminal proceedings. (ix) To apply for the winding up of the company and receive the residual proceeds. In addition to the above rights, which shareholders can also exercise the following rights as a group :- (a) To requisition an Extra-ordinary General meeting. (b) To demand a poll on any resolution. (c ) To apply to CLB to investigate the affairs of the company. (d) To apply to CLB for relief in cases of oppression and/or mismanagement. How to decide What to Buy? One buys shares to make profits – some have short term goals others have long term goals. But this is one of the most difficult questions as to what to buy and when to buy the same. In this world no one can consistently predict as to buying of which shares will certainly result in profits. It is a very wide topic and it is not the scope of this article to discuss these in detail but certain fundamentals are discussed. The price of a share depends on two things - how the company’s business is faring and what is the outlook for the economic growth of the economy as a whole. Analysing stocks, or assessing their future prices is broadly down through two methods of analysis - the fundamental and the technical. A fundamental analysis looks at all things that could possibly affect the business of a company. Some of the major items that are looked by the fundamental analysts are: the company’s sales and earnings, the operating margins, the management of the company, the company’s prospects in future and the prospects of the industry and the competition it faces etc. However, merely impressive sales and profit figures don't impress many investors. They look beyond these figures and look into the the company’s growth rate i.e., rate of growth in sales as well as profits. A fast growing company has good capital appreciation.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 69 TERMS ASSOCIATED WITH STOCK / EQUITY MARKET : (A) INDEXES – SENSEX & NIFTY :

Every day almost all traded stock price show some movement – upward or downward. The movement in stock prices is due to one of both of the following reasons: (a) news about the company (e.g. launching of a new, or announcement of good results or the problems in the production etc.) or (b) news about the country (e.g. change in policy by government, war or terrorist attacks, currency problems etc.). An index mainly captures the second part, i.e. news about the country.

However, the news about the company, which forms part of the index, also gets reflected in the index, especially when the said company has high weightage in the index. A stock market index captures the behaviour of the overall equity market. In choosing the stocks which form part of the Index, it is considered that that the movements of the index will represent the returns obtained by "typical" portfolios in the country. The primary index of BSE is BSE SENSEX (SENsitive indEX) comprising 30

stocks. NSE has the S&P NSE 50 Index (Nifty) which consists of fifty stocks. Nifty stands for “Nse fIFTY”. The BSE Sensex is the older and more widely followed index. Both these indices are calculated on the basis of market capitalization and contain the heavily traded shares from key sectors. BSE had launched its SENSEX on 2nd January, 1986, with 1978-79 as the base

year with 30 highly liquid scrips. However, the scrips in the BSE index (SENSEX) are not permanent in nature. The SENSEX has been revamped a total of three times since its formation. The revamp was necessitated to remove scrips which have fallen out of favour with investors and to bring in those scrips which have enthused marketmen and represent industries which have been fancied currently. In March 2000. Indian Hotels (hospitality), Industrial Development Bank of India (finance), Tata Chemicals (chemicals) and Tata Power (electricity) were removed from the SENSEX and new scrips like Satyam Computers (software), Zee Telefilms (media), Dr. Reddy's (pharma) and Reliance Petroleum (refining) were inducted. Old economy stocks gave way to the new economy ones. S&P CNX Nifty consists of fifty shares chosen after lot of research. The stocks

considered for the S&P CNX Nifty are liquid by the `impact cost' criterion. (B) Rolling Settlement Cycle : A few years back, the settlement on Indian Stock exchanges used to take on fortnightly basis, i.e. all the trades during a fortnight were settled only at the end of that fortnight. With the reforms in the stock market, rolling settlement has come in vogue. In a rolling settlement, each trading day is considered as a trading period and trades executed during the day are settled based on the net obligations for the day. At NSE and BSE, trades in rolling settlement are settled on a T+2 basis i.e. on the 2nd working day. (Here T stands for the trading day). For arriving at the settlement day all intervening holidays, which include bank holidays, NSE/BSE holidays, Saturdays and Sundays are excluded. Thus in case of T+2 trades, the trades taking place on Monday are settled on Wednesday, Tuesday's trades settled on Thursday and so on. The Exchanges are likely to shift to T+1 day rolling settlement by July, 2004.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 70 (C )Dematerialisation or DEMAT : Dematerialization (or Demat) is the process by which an investor can get the physical certificates (also called paper certificates) converted into electronic form. The shares in electronic forms are kept in an account with the Depository Participant. The investor can dematerialise only those certificates that are registered in his name and these certificates belong to the list of securities admitted for dematerialisation at NSDL. In the physical mode, the certificates were subject to many problems like forged certificates, lost certificates, mutilated certificates etc. With the increasing volume on the stock markets, it was becoming impossible to handle the same in physical form on regular basis. In view of these problems associated with physical mode of certificates, now it has been made compulsory for all shares to be converted into demat mode. The stock exchanges now a days do not allow delivery through physical mode. We can sum up the major advantages of trading through demat shares:-

(a) The problems relating to transfer of shares like bad deliveries, difference in signatures, theft, fire, and mutation of shares do not occur in demat shares.

(b) The investors do not have to pay stamp duty for buying the shares in demat form.

(c) The brokerage fee has reduced as the paperwork at the broker end has considerably reduced.

REMATERIALISATION : The investor is allowed to get back the securities in the physical form, by requesting NSDL through his DP. NSDL intimates the registrar who prints the certificates. This process is knows as 'REMATERIALISATION'. (D) Depository : The depositories are organizations who are responsible to maintain investor's securities in the electronic form. A depository can therefore be considered like a "Bank" for securities. In India there are two depositories, namely NSDL and CDSL. The depository concept is almost similar to the Bank, with the exception that banks handle funds whereas a depository handles securities of the investors. An investor wishing to utilize the services of a depository, needs to open an account with the depository through a Depository Participant. (E) Depository Participant (DP) : DPs are the market intermediary through whom the depository services are availed by the investors. SEBI regulations require that DP should be an organization involved in the business of providing financial services like banks, brokers, custodians and financial institutions. This system of using the existing distribution channel (mainly constituting DPs) helps the depository to reach a wide cross section of investors spread across a large geographical area at a minimum cost. (F)Book Building : Book Building is a process undertaken by the issuers of securities , wherein the investors are asked to bid for the securities at different prices. The bids are required to be within the indicative price band declared by the issuer. Through this process the issuer tries to assess demand for the public issue at various prices. Based on the bids received from investors for different quantities at different rates, the issuer determines a cut-off price, which is the price at which the securities are allotted. Thus, through the process of book building the issuer gets the best possible price for his securities as perceived by the market or investors. Moreover, investors too have a choice and flexibility in determining the price at which they are interested to invest in such securities. Thus, book-building is mainly a system to discover the price vis-a-vis demand for a particular security. The main objective here is to determine proper market price for the

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 71 securities and demand level from high quality investors. As per SEBI guidelines the Book needs to be kept open for a minimum period of 5 days. The issuer is entitled to fix the floor price (it means the minimum price) at which bids can be made by the investors. The major differences in offer of securities through book building and through normal public issue are : (a) The allotment price is not known to the investor at the time of investment (though price band is known to him). In case of public issues the exact price at which securities will be allotted is known at the time of application itself. (b) In case of book building, the demand for the securities is made known on daily basis, but in case of normal public issue the total demand is known only after the closure of the issue. How does the Book Building System Works : First of all the issuer appoints a merchant banker as the Lead Manager and Book Runner. A prospectus is filed with SEBI for approval. The book runner then collects orders from various investors through underwriters and other participating members. Thus, the orders from the clients for the quantity of security required by them at various prices at which they are comfortable are collected. Based on these informations, a book a prepared where the information relating to the orders received is recorded. On receipt of sufficient number of orders, the Book is closed. Based on the orders, the cut off price is decided and securities are allotted. In equity market, recently the Book Building mode has been used some companies wherein the investors are asked to apply like normal public issue but with the price of their choice (of course, within the price band declared by the issuer). (G) Circuit Breakers / Circuit Filters / Market Wide Circuit Breakers :- Circuit breakers are a tool to control very high volatility in the trading of shares by setting up limits on price movement. It is like a speed breaker and controls the unreasonable change in share prices. Regulatory authorities are generally wary when stock prices go for high rise or fall in single session. In order to give time to the markets to recover their poise, stocks that rise (or fall) above a certain percentage are stopped from trading. This is called circuit breaker or filters. BSE and the NSE both certain pre-defined methods of circuit breakers. The circuit is thus the band between the lower and upper limits. Circuits are built to check the volatility in the market, to arrest panic and to keep the market under some control. Market Wide Circuit Breakers : The “Market Wide Circuit Breakers” have been introduced at a national level in the Indian markets for the first time. This is on the lines of the system prevailing in the US markets. In order to contain large market movements, SEBI has mandated that the Market Wide Circuit Breakers (MWCB) which at 10-15-20% of the movements in either BSE Sensex or NSE Nifty, whichever is breached earlier, would be applicable. This provides cooling period to the market participants and enable them to re-act to the market movements. The trading halt on all stock exchanges would take place as under:-

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 72 (a) In case of a 10% movement of either index, there would be a 1-hour market halt if the movement takes place before 1:00 p.m. In case the movement takes place at or after 1 p.m. but before 2:30 p.m., there will be a trading halt for 1/2 hour. In case the movement takes place at or after 2:30 p.m., there will be no trading halt at the 10% level and the market will continue trading. (b) In case of a 15% movement of either index, there will be a 2-hour market halt if the movement takes place before 1:00 p.m. If the 15% trigger is reached on or after 1:00 p.m. but before 2 p.m., there will be 1-hour halt. If the 15% trigger is reached on or after 2:00 p.m., the trading will halt for the remainder of the day. (c) In case of a 20% movement of the either index, the trading will halt for the remainder of the day. The above percentages are required to be translated by the Exchanges into absolute points of the Index variation on a quarterly basis, i.e., based on the closing index on the last trading day of the quarter and advised to the market participants in advance. Based on these absolute points, market wide circuit breakers are applied for the next quarter. Circuit FiltersThe Exchanges as per the directions from SEBI, are required to apply Circuit Filters on all scrips traded in Rolling Settlements at 20% of the closing price of the scrips on the previous day. However, in the Rolling Settlement Scenario, since the trading horizon is only one day, the application of these Circuit Filters may pose high settlement default risk, when a market participant is not able to square off his speculative trading position, as the scrip may have hit the Circuit Filter. Therefore, in all 54 scrips, which form part of the Sensex and Nifty or in which derivative products like stock options and Futures are available, no circuit filters are applicable w.e.f. July 2, 2001. In other words, the prices of these scrips can have free fall or increase within a day. However, in view of the market developments that took place in September, 2001, SEBI has directed the Exchanges to impose daily circuit filter of 10% on these 54 scrips. Accordingly, these 54 scrips have daily circuit filter of 10% and the remaining scrips in CRS have a daily circuit filter of 20%. (H) Inside Trading : Securities and Exchange Board of India (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 1992, has banned the inside trading in India. Inside trading refers to the dealing of securities by an insider with the motive of making profits or avoiding losses. The said Act defines aninsider as “any person who, is or was connected with the company or is deemed to have been connected with the company, and who is reasonably expected to have access to unpublished price sensitive information in respect of securities of a company, or who has received or has had access to such unpublished price sensitive information”. The "dealing in securities" means an act of subscribing, buying, selling or agreeing to subscribe, buy, sell or deal in any securities by any person either as principal or agent”. (I) Going Short : When a person does not have shares and still sells the them in the market, it is known as going short on a stock. This method is adopted by trader to get short term gains, when they expect the price to decline. However, in the present day when a rolling settlement cycle has been introduced, the trader has to cover the stock by purchasing the same from market before the end of the day on which he had gone short.


SWEAT EQUITYSweat Equity is the equity issued by the company to employees or director’s at a discount for consideration other than cash, for providing the know-how or making available rights in the nature of intellectual property rights or value addition. It is usually issued by corporate to retain the human assets. SEBI is formulating a policy whereby it will mandate a three year lock in period from the date of allotment of shares issued under the Sweat Equity Plan.


RAROC Pricing / Economic Profit

In acquiring assets, banks should use the pricing mechanism in conjunction with product/ geography/ industry/ tenor limits. For example, if a bank believes that construction loans for commercial complexes are unattractive from a portfolio perspective, it can raise the price of these loans to a level that will act as a disincentive to borrowers. This is an instance of marginal cost pricing - the notion that the price of an asset should compensate the institution for its marginal cost as measured on a risk-adjusted basis. Marginal cost pricing may not always work. A bank may have idle capacity and capital that has not been deployed. While such an institution clearly would not want to make a loan at a negative spread, it would probably view even a small positive spread as worthwhile as long as the added risk was acceptable. Institutions tend to book unattractively priced loans when they are unable to allocate their cost base with clarity or to make fine differentiations of their risks. If a bank cannot allocate its costs, then it will make no distinction between the cost of lending to borrowers that require little analysis and the cost of lending to borrowers that require a considerable amount of review and follow up. Similarly, if the spread is tied to a too coarsely graded risk rating system (one, for example, with just four grades) then it is more difficult to differentiate among risks when pricing than if the risk rating is graduated over a larger scale with, say, 15 grades. A cost-plus-profit pricing strategy will work in the short run, but in the long run borrowers will balk and start looking for alternatives. Cost-plus-profit pricing will also work when a bank has some flexibility to compete on an array of services rather than exclusively on price. The difficulties with pricing are greater in markets where the lender is a price taker rather than a price leader. The pricing is based on the borrower's risk rating, tenor, collateral, guarantees, historic loan loss rates, and covenants. A capital charge is applied based on a hurdlerate and a capital ratioª. Using these assumptions, the rate to be charged for a loan to a customer with a given rating could be calculated. This relatively simple approach to credit pricing works well as long as the assumptions are correct - especially those about the borrower’s credit quality. This method is used in many banks today. The main drawbacks of this method are:

· Only ‘expected losses’ are linked to the borrower’s credit quality. The capital charge based on the volatility of losses in the credit risk category may also be too small. If the loan were to default, the loss would have to be made up from income from non-defaulting loans.

· It implicitly assumes only two possible states for a loan: default or no

default. It does not model the credit risk premium or discount resulting from improvement or decline in the borrower's financial condition, which is meaningful only if the asset may be repriced or sold at par.

Banks have long struggled to find the best ways of allocating capital in a manner consistent with the risks taken. They have found it difficult to come up with a consistent and credible way of allocating capital for such varying sources of revenue as loan commitments, revolving lines of credit (which have no maturity), and secured versus unsecured lending. The different approaches for allocating capital are as under:


· One approach is to allocate capital to business units based on their asset size. Although it is true that a larger portfolio will have larger losses, this approach also means that the business unit is forced to employ all the capital allocated to it. Moreover, this method treats all risks alike.

· Another approach is to use the regulatory (risk-adjusted) capital as the

allocated capital. The problem with this approach is that regulatory capital may or may not reflect the true risk of a business. For example, for regulatory purposes, a loan to a AAA rated customer requires the same amount of capital per Rupees lent as one to a small business.

· Yet another approach is to use unexpected losses in a sub-portfolio

(standard deviation of the annual losses taken over time) as a proxy for capital to be allocated. The problem with this approach is that it ignores default correlations across sub-portfolios. The volatility of a sub-portfolio may in fact dampen the volatility of the institution's portfolio, so pricing decisions based on the volatility of the sub-portfolio may not be optimal. In practical terms, this means that one line of business within a lending institution may sometimes subsidize another.

Risk Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC) As it became clearer that banks needed to add an appropriate capital charge in the pricing process, the concept of risk adjusting the return or risk adjusting the capital arose. The value-producing capacity of an asset (or a business) is expressed as a ratio that allows comparisons to be made between assets (or businesses) of varying sizes and risk characteristics. The ratio is based either on the size of the asset or the size of the capital allocated to it. When an institution can observe asset prices directly (and/ or infer risk from observable asset prices) then it can determine how much capital to hold based on the volatility of the asset. This is the essence of the mark-to-market concept. If the capital to be held is excessive relative to the total return that would be earned from the asset, then the bank will not acquire it. If the asset is already in the bank's portfolio, it will be sold. The availability of a liquid market to buy and sell these assets is a precondition for this approach. When banks talk about asset concentration and correlation, the question of capital allocation is always in the background because it is allocated capital that absorbs the potential consequences (unexpected losses) resulting from such concentration and correlation causes. RAROC allocates a capital charge to a transaction or a line of business at an amount equal to the maximum expected loss (at a 99% confidence level) over one year on an after-tax basis. As may be expected, the higher the volatility of the returns, the more capital is allocated. The higher capital allocation means that the transaction has to generate cash flows large enough to offset the volatility of returns, which results from the credit risk, market risk, and other risks taken. The RAROC process estimates the asset value that may prevail in the worst-case scenario and then equates the capital cushion to be provided for the potential loss. RAROC is an improvement over the traditional approach in that it allows one to compare two businesses with different risk (volatility of returns) profiles. A transaction may give a higher return but at a higher risk. Using a hurdle rate (expected rate of return), a lender can also use the RAROC principle to set the target pricing on a

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 76 relationship or a transaction. Although not all assets have market price distribution, RAROC is a first step toward examining an institution’s entire balance sheet on a mark-to-market basis - if only to understand the risk-return trade-offs that have been made. Source : RBI's guidance note on credit risk


TREASURY OPERATIONS Now a days most of Banks in India like to classify their business into two primary business segments, namely Treasury operations (i.e. Investments) and Banking operations (other than Treasury). The role of Treasury has gained prominence in recent past as a sizable portion of the income of the banks in India has come from investments. Moreover, the poor growth of credit portfolio of Banks has left the banks with no alternative but to increase the size of their investment portfolio. The Treasury operations in Indian Banks are broadly divided into :- (a) Rupees Treasury :- The Rupee Treasury carries out the bank’s rupee-based treasury functions in the domestic market. Broadly, these include asset liabilitymanagement, investments and trading. The Rupee Treasury also manages the bank’s position regarding statutory requirements like the cash reserve ratio (CRR) and the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), as per the norms of the Reserve Bank of India. The products included in rupee treasury are :-

� Money Market instruments – Call Money, Notice Money, Term Money, Commercial Papers, Treasury Bonds, Inter Bank Participation, Repo, Reverse Repo etc.

� Bonds – Government Securities, Bonds, Debentures etc. � Equities

(b) Foreign Exchange Treasury (c ) Derivatives Desk In last few years the Bank are moving towards the Integrated Treasury operations where all the above separate desks are integrated and there is one integrated Treasury.


VALUE AT RISK ( VaR ) Is it VaR or VAR ? Both are used inter-changably by people. But it is better if you use VaR, because VAR (i.e. with capital A) is also used for Value Added Reseller and Vector Auto Regression. What is VaR ? VaR is defined as an estimate of potential loss in a position or asset/liability or portfolio of assets/liabilities over a given holding period at a given level of certainty. It is a technique for estimating the probability of portfolio losses exceeding some specified price. The Value at Risk (VaR) approach to risk management aims to consolidate in a consistent way, at the organization or entity level, the risks inherent in a portfolio of various classes of financial instruments. The results are expressed as a single number -- the VaR -- in terms of the of maximum expected loss, the confidence interval of the loss (eg 1%) and the number of days in the risk period (eg five days). Thus we can say VaR is a measure of potential loss from an unlikely, adverse event in a normal, everyday market environment. VaR is denominated in units of a currency, e.g., Rupees or US dollars, say X million rupees, where the chance of losing more than X dollars is, say, 1 in 100 over some future time interval, say 1 day. Therefore, we can say that VaR is a statistical measure of risk exposure. The calculation of VaR requires the application of statistical theory. To calculate VAR, one needs to choose a common measurement unit, a time horizon, and a probability. The common unit can be Indian Rupees USD, EURO , or whatever currency the organization primarily uses to do business. The chosen probability of loss usually ranges between 1 and 5 percent. The time horizon can be of any length, but it is assumed that the portfolio composition does not change during the holding period. The most common holding periods used are one day, one week, or two weeks. The choice of the holding period depends on the liquidity of the assets in the portfolio and how frequently they are traded. Relatively less liquid assets call for a longer holding period. What is the use of VaR: VaR measures risk. Risk is defined as the probability of the unexpected happening - the probability of suffering a loss. VaR is an estimate of the loss likely to suffer, not the actual loss. The actual loss may be different from the estimate. It measures potential loss, not potential gain. Risk management tools measure potential loss as risk has been defined as the probability of suffering a loss. VaR measures the probability of loss for a given time period over which the position is held. The given time period could be one day or a few days or a few weeks or a year. VaR will change if the holding period of the position changes. The holding period for an instrument/position will depend on liquidity of the instrument/ market. With the help of VaR, we can say with varying degrees of certainty that the potential loss will not exceed a certain amount. This means that VaR will change with different levels of certainty. Originally VaR was used as an information tool. i.e. it was used to communicate to management a feeling for the exposure to changes in market prices. Later on market risk was incorporated into the actual risk control structure. i.e., trading limits were based on VaR calculations. Now a days VaR is also used in the incentive structure as well.i.e., VaR is a component determining risk-adjusted performance and compensation. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has accepted VaR as a measurement of market risks and provision of capital adequacy for market risks, subject to approval by

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 79 banks' supervisory authorities. Thus, VAR models have been accepted by both practitioners and bank regulators as the state of the art in quantitative risk measurement. In its recent risk-based capital proposal, the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision endorsed the use of banks' VAR models to allocate capital for market risk. The Basle standard covers internationally active banks and applies only to their trading account. The proposal offers two alternatives: "standardized" and "internal models." In India Standardized Approach has been accepted for the time being, but slowly Banks will move to Internal models which will be based on VaR models. To be acceptable to regulators for the purposes of allocating capital, banks internal models will need to meet certain qualitative and quantitative standards. In essence, qualitative standards relate to the institution's risk management function as a whole. They call for independent validation of the models by the bank or a third party; strong controls over inputs, data, and model changes; independence of the risk management function from business lines; full integration of the model into risk management; and, most important, director and senior management oversight of the risk management process. Quantitative standards relate to specific features of the VAR model. They call for the use of a 1 percent probability level and a two-week holding period. In addition, the VAR thus found is to be multiplied by a factor of three. The multiplication factor is designed to allow for potential weaknesses in the modeling process and other non quantifiable factors, such as incorrect assumptions about distributions, unstable volatilities, and extreme market movements. Many practitioners, however, consider these standards too restrictive. They note that a holding period of two weeks is too long for many instruments, as traders get in and out of positions many times during a typical day. Moreover, a two-week holding period combined with a 1 percent probability safeguards against events that can be expected to occur only once in four years. This makes it difficult to validate the model within a reasonable period of time. It should be noted that a few features of the proposal have been modified as a result of industry criticism. In particular, an earlier version of the proposal allowed the models to account for correlations of asset returns within, but not among, asset classes, such as equities, currencies, and bonds. Now, all correlations are allowed. VaR is also used as a MIS tool in the trading portfolio in the trading portfolio to “slice and dice” risk by levels/ products/geographic/level of organisation etc. It is also used to set risk limits. In its strategic perspective, VaR is used to decisions as to what business to do and what not to do. However VaR as a useful MIS tool has to be “back tested” by comparing each day’s VaR with actuals and necessary reexamination of assumptions needs to be made so as to be close to reality. VaR, therefore, cannot substitute sound management judgement, internal control and other complementary methods. It is used to measure and manage market risks in trading portfolio and investment portfolio. Assumptions Made by VaR Models : Most of the VaR model assumes that the portfolio under consideration doesn't change over the forecast horizon. This is usually not true, especially for tradingportfolios. VaR models also assume that the historical data used to construct the VaR estimate contains information useful in forecasting the loss distribution. Some VaR models even go

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 80 further and assume that the historical data themselves follow a specific distribution (e.g., a "normal distribution" in RiskMetrics(TM)). How is VaR calculated? The calculations depends on the method used for arriving at VaR. Some of the methods used as variance/covariance, Monte Carlo, historical simulation. However, generally the calculation of VaR involves, using historical data on market prices and rates, the current portfolio positions, and models (e.g., option models, bond models) for pricing those positions. These inputs are then combined in different ways, depending on the method, to derive an estimate of a particular percentile of the loss distribution, typically the 99th percentile loss. There are three main approaches to calculating value-at-risk: the correlation method, also known as the variance/covariance matrix method; historical simulationand Monte Carlo simulation. All three methods require a statement of three basic parameters: holding period, confidence interval and the historical time horizon over which the asset prices are observed. What is Monte Carlo? It is a simulation technique and used for calculation of VaR. It first makes some assumptions about the distribution of changes in market prices and rates (for example, by assuming they are normally distributed), then collecting data to estimate the parameters of the distribution. The Monte Carlo then uses those assumptions to give successive sets of possible future realizations of changes in those rates. For each set, the portfolio is revalued. Thus we get a set of portfolio revaluations corresponding to the set of possible realizations of rates. From this distribution we take the 99th percentile loss as the VaR. The Monte Carlo simulation method calculates the change in the value of a portfolio using a sample of randomly generated price scenarios. Here the user has to make certain assumptions about market structures, correlations between risk factors and the volatility of these factors. He is essentially imposing his views and experience as opposed to the naive approach of the historical simulation method. What is Historical Simulation? Like Monte Carlo, it is another simulation technique. However, this technique usually skips the step of making assumptions about the distribution of changes in market prices and rates. Instead, it assumes that whatever the realizations of those changes in prices and rates were in the past, will continue to be over the forecast horizon. It takes the actual changes, applies them to the current set of rates, then uses these to revalue the portfolio. Thus we get a set of portfolio revaluations corresponding to the set of possible realizations of rates. From this distribution we take the 99th percentile loss as the VaR. The historical simulation approach calculates the change in the value of a position using the actual historical movements of the underlying asset(s), but starting from the current value of the asset. It does not need a variance/covariance matrix. The length of the historical period chosen does impact the results because if the period istoo short, it may not capture the full variety of events and relationships between the various assets and within each asset class, and if it is too long, may be too stale to predict the future. The advantage of this method is that it does not require the user to make any explicit

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 81 assumptions about correlations and the dynamics of the risk factors because the simulation follows every historical move. The following table describes the three main methodologies to calculate VaR: Methodology Description Applications Parametric Estimates VaR with equation that

specifies parameters such as volatility, correlation, delta, and gamma

Accurate for traditional assets and linear derivatives, buit less accurate for non linear derivatives

Monte Carlo simulation

Estimates VaR by simulating random scenarios and revaluing positions in the portfolio

Historical simulation

Estimates Var by reliving history; takes actual historical rates and revalues positions for each change in the market

Appropriate for all types of instruments, linear and nonlinear

What is the Variance/Covariance Matrix or Parametric method? This is a one of the simple and fast approach to VaR computation. This method assumes a particular distribution for both the changes in market prices and rates and the changes in portfolio value. Usually, this is the "normal" distribution. In this method a lot is known about it, including how to readily obtain an estimate of any percentile once you know the variances and co-variances of all changes in position values. These are normally estimated directly from historical data. In this method the VaR of the portfolio, is a simple transformation of the estimated variance/covariance matrix. However, this method does not work well for non-linear positions. What is Risk Metrics? This is a particular implementation of the Variance/Covariance approach to calculating VaR. It is particular, not general, because it assumes a particular structure for the evolution of market prices and rates through time, and because it translates all portfolio positions into their component cash flows (or "equivalent") and performs the VaR computation on those. It is really responsible for popularizing VaR, and is a perfectly reasonable approach, especially for portfolios without a lot of non-linearity. Which Method should be used to calculate VaR? There is no ready answer to this question as it will depend on the nature of the portfolio and the data used in the estimation of VaR. However, some studies comparing methodologies typically with linear portfolios, either equities or fx. These tended to show that the variance-covariance approach was better when short histories of market prices were used, because Monte Carlo and Historical Simulation would under estimate the 99th percentile. With longer histories MC and HC were equal to or better than VCV. But I don't recommend you generalizing from these studies, because of their limited scope. Because of this, it is very important to have an estimate of precision for every VaR estimate (A confidence interval). What is a "linear" exposure? A linear risk is one where the change in the value of a position in response to a change in a market price or rate is a constant proportion of the change in the price or rate.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 82 What is a "non linear" exposure? Everything that's not linear. For example, options are thought of as nonlinear exposures, because they respond differently to changes in the value of the underlying instrument depending on whether they are in-the-money, at-the-money, or out-of-the-money. What's the difference between EaR, VaR, and EVE? Earnings at Risk (EaR) usually looks only at potential changes in cash flows/earnings over the forecast horizon. On the other hand, Value at risk (VaR) looks at the change in the entire value over the forecast horizon. Economic Value of Equity (EVE) also looks at value change, but typically over a longer forecast horizon than VAR (up to 1 year). In a trading environment, where profit and loss are equivalent to changes in value, EaR and VaR should be the same. Estimating Volatility VaR uses past data to compute volatility. Different methods are employed to estimate volatility. One is arithmetic moving average from historical time series data. The other is the exponential moving average method. In the exponential moving average method, the volatility estimates rises faster to shocks and declines gradually. Further, different banks take different number of days of past data to estimate volatility. Volatility also does not capture unexpected events like EMU crisis of September 1992 (called “event risk”). All these complicate the estimation of volatility. VaR should be used in combination with "stress testing" to take care of event risks. Stress test takes into account the worst case scenario.


YIELD TO MATURITY ( YTM ) What is YTM? / Define YIELD TO MATURITYYTM means Yield to Maturity. Academically YTM is defined as the market interest rate that equates a bond's present value of interest paymentsand principal repayment with its price. To understand it better, YTM can be defined as the compound rate of return that investors will receive for a bond with a maturity greater than one year if they hold the bond to maturity and reinvest all cash flows at the same rate of interest. It takes into account purchase price, redemption value,coupon yield, and the time between interest payment. How is YTM Calculated ? / Excel Formula for Yield to MaturityThe YTM is easy to compute where the acquisition cost of a bond is at par and coupon payments are effected annually. In such a situation, the yield-to-maturity will be equal to coupon payment. However, for other cases, an approximate YTM can be found by using a bond yield table. However, because calculating a bond's YTM is complex and involves trial and error, it is usually done by using a programmable business calculator. Another best method is to calcualte the same through computer (In EXCEL you can use YIELD function). Calculating the YTM is an iterative process, involving repeated calculations that get successively closer to a solution. The exact same formula is used to calculate both YTM and YTC (Yield to Call). The only difference is that, for the YTC, the contractual or estimated call date is used instead of the contractual maturity date. To use the Excel function the following variables are used :

• Settlement date • Maturity date • Coupon rate • Par amount to be received at maturity • Purchase price

YTM's Relation With Price ?YTM and the price of the Bonds have inverse relations i.e. if YTM goes up the price of the Bonds will come down and when YTM goes down the price of the Bonds will go up. The following table gives an indication between the YTM and current yield, when bonds are quoted at discount or at a premium or at par :-

Bond Selling At. Relationship

Discount Coupon Rate < Current Yield < YTM

Premium Coupon Rate > Current Yield > YTM

Par Value Coupon Rate = Current Yield = YTM Thus, the YTM will be greater than the current yield when the bond is selling at a discount and will be less if it is selling at a premium.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 84 HOW YTM IS RELEVANT FOR VALUATION OF INVESTMENTS IN INDIA / What are FIMMDA Rates?:- Banks in India are required to value their assets at the end of the each quarter at least. As per RBI's implementation of prudential norms, banks are required to mark-to-market (M2M) their investments in government securities and other Non SLR investments in Held for Trading (HFT) and Available for Sale (AFS). This means that if interest rates rise during a year, the market value of the bonds will fall and in case interest rates go down, the market value of the Bonds will rise. For the sake of uniformity in valuation, RBI has asked Banks to use the prices / YTMs released by FIMMDA every month for valuation of their securities. While banks have to make a provision when the value of their bonds depreciate, they cannot book profits. However, they are allowed to write back the depreciation provided in the previous year. DEFICIENCIES IN THE YTM METHOD ? YTM, is a projection of future performance. Since future interest rates are unknown, YTM must assume a reinvestment rate, and it uses the YTM rate itself. Thus YTM is an implicit function that can only be evaluated by the method of successive approximations. In practice it is virtually impossible to reinvest the interest payments at exactly the YTM rate. Usually they are accumulated in an account at alower interest rate before being reinvested. This means that the YTM almost always overstates the true return. If the interest earnings are spent rather than reinvested, the return will be even lower. It is also important to recognize that the interest payments are normally trimmed by a tax bite, making it impossible to reinvest the full amount of each payment. YTM is almost always quoted in terms of bond-equivalent yield. This reflects the fact that bond interest payments are normally made twice a year at half the coupon rate. The compounding of the (assumed) reinvested interest payments twice a year results in a slightly higher annualized return than would be the case for once-a-year reinvested interest payments at the full coupon rate. Thus YTM expressed as bond-equivalent yield slightly understates the YTM when viewed as the annualized compound rate of return. In the absence of taxes, YTM would be an accurate measure of return if the yield curve were flat and interest rates remained constant over the life of the bond. It becomes a poorer measure as the yield curve steepens, or as the purchase price deviates further from par. YTM FOR ZERO COUPON BONDS - WHY SUPERIOR METHOD? The reason that YTM applies exactly to a zero coupon bond is that there is no interest to be reinvested. The entire return comes from the difference between the purchase price and the face value of the bond. In ordinary bonds, this difference is treated as a capital gain/loss and taxed when sold. However in a zero coupon bond, that gain is treated as interest income and taxed annually according to the gain in accreted value. Since there are no

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 85 interest payments to reinvest and therefore none to spend, achieving the quoted YTM is automatic when a zero coupon bond is held to maturity. Of course this ignores the annual income tax bite.


COMMERCIAL PAPER Introduction Commercial Paper (CP) is an unsecured money market instrument issued in the form of a promissory note. CP, as a privately placed instrument, was introduced in India in 1990 with a view to enabling highly rated corporate borrowers to diversify their sources of short-term borrowings and to provide an additional instrument to investors. Subsequently, primary dealers, satellite dealers* and all-India financial institutions were also permitted to issue CP to enable them to meet their short-term funding requirements for their operations. Guidelines for issue of CP are presently governed by various directives issued by the Reserve Bank of India, as amended from time to time. The guidelines for issue of CP incorporating all the amendments issued till date is given below for ready reference. Who can issue Commercial Paper (CP) 2. Corporates and primary dealers (PDs), and the all-India financial institutions (FIs) that have been permitted to raise short-term resources under the umbrella limit fixed by Reserve Bank of India are eligible to issue CP. *: The system of satellite dealers has since been discontinued with effect from June 1, 2002. 3. A corporate would be eligible to issue CP provided: (a) the tangible net worth of the company, as per the latest audited balance sheet, is not less than Rs. 4 crore; (b) company has been sanctioned working capital limit by bank/s or all-India financial institution/s; and (c) the borrowal account of the company is classified as a Standard Asset by the financing bank/s/ institution/s. Rating Requirement 4. All eligible participants shall obtain the credit rating for issuance of Commercial Paper from either the Credit Rating Information Services of India Ltd. (CRISIL) or the Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Ltd. (ICRA) or the Credit Analysis and Research Ltd. (CARE) or the FITCH Ratings India Pvt. Ltd. or such other credit rating agencies as may be specified by the Reserve Bank of India from time to time, for the purpose. The minimum credit rating shall be P-2 of CRISIL or such equivalent rating by other agencies. The issuers shall ensure at the time of issuance of CP that the rating so obtained is current and has not fallen due for review. Maturity 5. CP can be issued for maturities between a minimum of 7 days and a maximum up to one year from the date of issue. The maturity date of the CP should not go beyond the date up to which the credit rating of the issuer is valid. Denominations. 6. CP can be issued in denominations of Rs.5 lakh or multiples thereof. Amount invested by a single investor should not be less than Rs.5 lakh (face value).

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 87 Limits and the Amount of Issue of CP 7. CP can be issued as a "stand alone" product. The aggregate amount of CP from an issuer shall be within the limit as approved by its Board of Directors or the quantum indicated by the Credit Rating Agency for the specified rating, whichever is lower. Banks and FIs will, however, have the flexibility to fix working capital limits duly taking into account the resource pattern of companies’ financing including CPs. 8. An FI can issue CP within the overall umbrella limit fixed by the RBI, i.e., issue of CP together with other instruments, viz., term money borrowings, term deposits, certificates of deposit and inter-corporate deposits should not exceed 100 per cent of its net owned funds, as per the latest audited balance sheet.

9. The total amount of CP proposed to be issued should be raised within a period of two weeks from the date on which the issuer opens the issue forsubscription. CP may be issued on a single date or in parts on different dates provided that in the latter case, each CP shall have the same maturity date. 10. Every issue of CP, including renewal, should be treated as a fresh issue. Who can act as Issuing and Paying Agent (IPA) 11. Only a scheduled bank can act as an IPA for issuance of CP. Investment in CP 12. CP may be issued to and held by individuals, banking companies, other corporate bodies registered or incorporated in India and unincorporated bodies, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs). However, investment by FIIs would be within the limits set for their investments by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Mode of Issuance 13. CP can be issued either in the form of a promissory note (Schedule I) or in a dematerialised form through any of the depositories approved by and registered with SEBI. 14. CP will be issued at a discount to face value as may be determined by the issuer. 15. No issuer shall have the issue of CP underwritten or co-accepted. Preference for Dematerialised form 16. While option is available to both issuers and subscribers to issue/hold CP in dematerialised or physical form, issuers and subscribers are encouraged to prefer exclusive reliance on dematerialised form of issue/holding. However, with effect from June 30, 2001, banks, FIs and PDs are required to make fresh investments and hold CP only in dematerialised form.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 88 Payment of CP 17. The initial investor in CP shall pay the discounted value of the CP by means of a crossed account payee cheque to the account of the issuer through IPA. On maturity of CP, when CP is held in physical form, the holder of CP shall present the instrument for payment to the issuer through the IPA. However, when CP is held in demat form, the holder of CP will have to get it redeemed through the depository and receive payment from the IPA. Stand-by Facility 18. In view of CP being a 'stand alone' product, it would not be obligatory in any manner on the part of the banks and FIs to provide stand-by facility to the issuers of CP. Banks and FIs have, however, the flexibility to provide for a CP issue, credit enhancement by way of stand-by assistance/credit, back-stop facility etc. based on their commercial judgement, subject to prudential norms as applicable and with specific approval of their Boards. 19. Non-bank entities including corporates may also provide unconditional and irrevocable guarantee for credit enhancement for CP issue provided: (i) the issuer fulfils the eligibility criteria prescribed for issuance of CP; (ii) the guarantor has a credit rating at least one notch higher than the issuer

given by an approved credit rating agency; and (iii) the offer document for CP properly discloses the net worth of the guarantor

company, the names of the companies to which the guarantor has issued similar guarantees, the extent of the guarantees offered by the guarantor company, and the conditions under which the guarantee will be invoked.

Procedure for Issuance 20. Every issuer must appoint an IPA for issuance of CP. The issuer should disclose to the potential investors its financial position as per the standard market practice. After the exchange of deal confirmation between the investor and the issuer, issuing company shall issue physical certificates to the investor or arrange for crediting the CP to the investor's account with a depository. Investors shall be given a copy of IPA certificate to the effect that the issuer has a valid agreement with the IPA and documents are in order (Schedule III). Role and Responsibilities 21. The role and responsibilities of issuer, issuing and paying agent (IPA) and credit rating agency (CRA) are set out below: (a) Issuer With the simplification in the procedures for CP issuance, issuers would now have more flexibility. Issuers would, however, have to ensure that the guidelines and procedures laid down for CP issuance are strictly adhered to.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 89 (b) Issuing and Paying Agent (IPA) (i) IPA would ensure that issuer has the minimum credit rating as stipulated by RBI

and amount mobilised through issuance of CP is within the quantum indicated by CRA for the specified rating or as approved by its Board of Directors, whichever is lower.

(ii) IPA has to verify all the documents submitted by the issuer, viz., copy of board

resolution, signatures of authorised executants (when CP in physical form) and issue a certificate that documents are in order. It should also certify that it has a valid agreement with the issuer (Schedule III).

(iii) Certified copies of original documents verified by the IPA should be held in the

custody of IPA. (iv) Every CP issue should be reported to the Adviser-in-Charge, Monetary Policy

Department (MPD), Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Mumbai. (v) IPAs, which are NDS member, should report the details of CP issue on NDS

platform within two days from the date of completion of the issue. (vi) Further, all scheduled banks, acting as an IPA, will continue to report CP

issuance details as hitherto within three days from the date of completion of the issue, incorporating details as per Schedule II till NDS reporting stabilizes to the satisfaction of RBI. The discontinuation of reporting of CP details to MPD would be communicated separately at a later stage.

(c) Credit Rating Agency (CRA) (i) Code of Conduct prescribed by the SEBI for CRAs for undertaking rating of

capital market instruments shall be applicable to them (CRAs) for rating CP. (ii) Further, the credit rating agency would henceforth have the discretion to

determine the validity period of the rating depending upon its perception about the strength of the issuer. Accordingly, CRA shall at the time of rating, clearly indicate the date when the rating is due for review.

(iii) While the CRAs can decide the validity period of credit rating, they would have

to closely monitor the rating assigned to issuers vis-a-vis their track record at regular intervals and would be required to make their revision in the ratings public through their publications and website.

Documentation Procedure : 22. Fixed Income Money Market and Derivatives Association of India (FIMMDA) may prescribe, in consultation with the RBI, for operational flexibility and smooth functioning of CP market, any standardised procedure and documentation that are to be followed by the participants, in consonance with the international best practices. Issuer/IPAs may refer to the detailed guidelines issued by FIMMDA in this regard on July 5, 2001.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 90 23. Violation of these guidelines will attract penalties and may also include debarring of the entity from the CP market. Default in CP Market : 24. In order to monitor defaults in redemption of CP, scheduled banks which act as IPAs, are advised to immediately report, on occurrence, full particulars of defaults in repayment of CPs to the Monetary Policy Department, Reserve Bank of India, Central Office, Fort, Mumbai, Non-Applicability of Certain Other Directions : 25. Nothing contained in the Non-Banking Financial Companies Acceptance of Public Deposits (Reserve Bank) Directions, 1998 shall apply to any non-banking financial company (NBFC) insofar as it relates to acceptance of deposit by issuance of CP, in accordance with these Guidelines.


Major Recommendations by the 2nd Narasimham Committee on Banking Sector Reforms

In early 1997, Mr.Narasimham was again asked to chair another committee to review the progress based on the 1st Committee report and to suggest a new vision for Indian banking industry. In April, 1998, Narasimham Committee submitted its report and recommended some major changes in the financial sector. Many of these recommendations have been accepted and are under process of implementation. These recommendations can be broadly classified into following categories :-

(A) Strengthening Banking System (B) Asset Quality (C) Prudential Norms and Disclosure Requirements (D) Systems and Methods in Banks (E) Structural Issues

(A) Strengthening Banking System

RECOMMEDNATION PRESENT STATUS

Capital adequacy requirements should take into account market risks in addition to the credit risks

RBI has already implemented the same as market risks already taken into account forinvestment portfolio.

In the next three years the entire portfolio of government securities should be marked to market and the schedule for the same announced at the earliest (since announced in the monetary and credit policy for the first half of 1998-99); government and other approved securities which are now subject to a zero risk weight, should have a 5 per cent weight for market risk.

RBI has implemented this partially as government and other approved securities are now subject to 2.5% market risk. RBI may in future increase the market risk to 5% for such securities.

Risk weight on a government guaranteed advance should be the same as for other advances. This should be made prospective from the time the new prescription is put in place.

This has already been implemented by RBI.

Foreign exchange open credit limit risks should be integrated into the calculation of risk weightedassets and should carry a 100 per cent risk weight

Minimum capital to risk assets ratio (CRAR) be increased from the existing 8 per cent to 10 per cent; an intermediate minimum target of 9 per cent be achieved by 2000 and the ratio of 10 per cent by 2002; RBI to be empowered to raise this further for individual banks if the risk profile warrants such an increase. Individual banks' shortfalls in the CRAR be treated on the same line as adopted for reserve

RBI has partially implemented the same by fixing CRAR at 9%. However, the ratio has not yet been increased to 10%.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 92 requirements, viz. uniformity across weak and strong banks. There should be penal provisions for banks that do not maintain CRAR. Public Sector Banks in a position to access the capital market at home or abroad be encouraged, as subscription to bank capital funds cannot be regarded as a priority claim on budgetary resources.

Public sector banks are already accessing the capital market, e.g. PNB, Canara Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank etc. have already successfully launched IPOs.

(B) Asset Quality An asset be classified as doubtful if it is in the substandard category for 18 months in the first instance and eventually for 12 months and loss if it has been identified but not written off. These norms should be regarded as the minimum and brought into force in a phased manner

Since March 2001, the assets are classified as doubtful if it is in the substandard category for 18 months. W.e.f. March, 2005, assets will become doubtful if these are in the substandard category for 12 months.

For evaluating the quality of assets portfolio, advances covered by Government guarantees, which have turned sticky, be treated as NPAs. Exclusion of such advances should be separately shown to facilitate fuller disclosure and greater transparency of operations

These are yet to be implemented.

For banks with a high NPA portfolio, two alternative approaches could be adopted. One approach can be that, all loan assets in the doubtful and loss categories, should be identified and their realisable value determined. These assets could be transferred to an Assets Reconstruction Company (ARC) which would issue NPA Swap Bonds

First Asset Reconstruction Company was established during June, 2002.

An alternative approach could be to enable the banks in difficulty to issue bonds which could form part of Tier II capital, backed by government guarantee to make these instruments eligible for SLR investment by banks and approved instruments by LIC, GIC and Provident Funds

Tier II bonds are being issued by the Banks, but these are not eligible for SLR investments by banks.

The interest subsidy element in credit for the priority sector should be totally eliminated and interest rate on loans under Rs.2 lakhs should be deregulated for scheduled commercial banks as has been done in the case of Regional Rural Banks and cooperative credit institutions

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 93 (C ) Prudential Norms and Disclosure Requirements In India, income stops accruing when interest or installment of principal is not paid within 180 days, which should be reduced to 90 days in a phased manner by 2002.

Implemented w.e.f. year ending 31/03/2004.

Introduction of a general provision of 1 per cent on standard assets in a phased manner be considered by RBI.

RBI has introduced provision @ 0.25%. It is likely to be increased in years to come.

As an incentive to make specific provisions, they may be made tax deductible

(D) Systems and Methods in Banks There should be an independent loan review mechanism especially for large borrowal accounts and systems to identify potential NPAs. Banks may evolve a filtering mechanism by stipulating in-house prudential limits beyond which exposures on single/group borrowers are taken keeping in view their risk profile as revealed through credit rating and other relevant factors

The major banks have already implemented these exposure limits. Slowly other banks are also progressing in this field.

Banks and FIs should have a system of recruiting killed manpower from the open market

Some banks are already recruiting specialist officers from the open market.

Public sector banks should be given flexibility to determined managerial remuneration levels taking into account market trends

This is yet to be implemented

There may be need to redefine the scope of external vigilance and investigation agencies with regard to banking business.

There is need to develop information and control system in several areas like better tracking of spreads, costs and NPSs for higher profitability, accurate and timely information for strategic decision to identify and promote profitable products and customers, risk and asset-liability management; and efficient treasury management.

Risk Management, Asset Liability Management and improvement in treasury have already been introduced in most banks.

(E) Structural Issues With the conversion of activities between banks and DFIs, the DFIs should, over a period of time convert themselves to bank. A DFI which converts to bank be given time to face in reserve equipment in respect of its liability to bring it on par with requirement relating to commercial bank.

The process has already started. ICICI Ltd. Has converted itself into a bank by merger withICICI Bank Ltd. IDBI, SIDBI are likely to follow.

Mergers of Public Sector Banks should emanate from the management of the banks

Indian Banks have yet to take cue from this recommendation and are

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 94 with the Government as the common shareholder playing a supportive role. Merger should not be seen as a means of bailing out weak banks. Mergers between strong banks/FIs would make for greater economic and commercial sense.

apprehensive of the mergers.

‘Weak Banks' may be nurtured into healthy units by slowing down on expansion, eschewing high cost funds / borrowings etc.

The minimum share of holding by Government/Reserve Bank in the equity of the nationalised banks and the State Bank should be brought down to 33%. The RBI regulator of themonetary system should not be also the owner of a bank in view of the potential for possible conflict of interest

Banks are already coming up with IPOs to reduce the share holding of Government / RBI. Government introduced a bill during December, 2000 in Parliament, but no progress has been made so far.

There is a need for a reform of the deposit insurance scheme based on CAMELs ratings awarded by RBI to banks.

The implementation of this recommendation is under progress.

Inter-bank call and notice money market and inter-bank term money market should be strictly restricted to banks; only exception to be made is primary dealers.

Moving towards Pure Inter-bank Call/Notice Money Market: In view of further market developments as also to move towards a pure inter-bank call/notice money market, it was proposed that with effect from the fortnight beginning December 27, 2003, non-bank participants would be allowed to lend, on average in a reporting fortnight, up to 60 per cent of their average daily lending in the call/notice money market during 2000-01, down from 75 per cent announced in April 2003.

Non-bank parties be provided free access to bill rediscounts, CPs, CDs, Treasury Bills, MMMF.

RBI should totally withdraw from the primary market in 91 days Treasury Bills.


ASSET RECONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITEDThe word asset reconstruction company is a typical used in India. Globally the equivalent phrase used is " asset management companies". The word "asset reconstruction" in India were used in Narsimham I report where it was envisaged for the setting up of a central Asset Reconstruction Fund with money contributed by the Central Government, which was to be used by banks to shore up their balance sheets to clean up their non-performing loans. However, this never saw the light of the day and later on Narsimham II floated the idea asset reconstruction companies.. Why ARC : In last 15 years or so the a number of economies around the world have witnessed the problem of non performing assets. A high level of NPAs in the banking system can severely affect the economy in many ways. The high level of NPAs leads to diversion of banking resources towards resolution of this problems. This causes an opportunity loss for more productive use of resources. The banks tend to become risk averse in making new loans, particularly to small and medium sized companies. Thus, large scale NPAs when left unattended, cause continued economic and financial degradation of the country. The realization of these problems has lead to greater attention to resolve the NPAs. ARCs have been used world-wide, particularly in Asia, to resolve bad-loan problems. However, these had a varying degree of success in different countries. ARCs focus on NPAs and allows the banking system to act as "clean bank". ARC in India : In India the problem of recovery from NPAs was recognized in 1997 by Government of India. The Narasimhan Committee Report mentioned that an important aspect of the continuing reform process was to reduce the high level of NPAs as a means of banking sector reform. It was expected that with a combination of policy and institutional development, new NPAs in future could be lower. However, the huge backlog of existing NPAs continued to hound the banking sector. It impinged severely on banks performance and their profitability. The Report envisaged creation of an "Asset Recovery Fund" to take the NPAs off the lender's books at a discount. Accordingly, Asset Reconstruction Company (Securitization Company / Reconstruction Company) is a company registered under Section 3 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SRFAESI) Act, 2002. It is regulated by Reserve Bank of India as an Non Banking Financial Company ( u/s 45I ( f ) (iii) of RBI Act, 1934). RBI has exempted ARCs from the compliances under section 45-IA, 45-IB and 45-IC of the Reserve Bank Act, 1934. ARC functions like an AMC within the guidelines issued by RBI. ARC has been set up to provide a focused approach to Non-Performing Loans resolution issue by:- (a) isolating Non Performing Loans (NPLs) from the Financial System (FS), (b) freeing the financial system to focus on their core activities and (c) Facilitating development of market for distressed assets. Functions of ARC :As per RBI Notification No. DNBS.2/CGM(CSM)-2003, dated April 23, 2003, ARC performs the following functions :- (i) Acquisition of financial assets (as defined u/s 2(L) of SRFAESI Act, 2002) (ii) Change or take over of Management / Sale or Lease of Business of the Borrower (iii) Rescheduling of Debts

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 96 (iv) Enforcement of Security Interest (as per section 13(4) of SRFAESI Act, 2002) (v) Settlement of dues payable by the borrower How Does ARC actually Works :ARC functions more or less like a Mutual Fund. It transfers the acquired assets to one or more trusts (set up u/s 7(1) and 7(2) of SRFAESI Act, 2002) at the price at which the financial assets were acquired from the originator (Banks/FIs). Then, the trusts issues Security Receipts to Qualified Institutional Buyers [as defined u/s 2(u) of SRFAESI Act, 2002]. The trusteeship of such trusts shall vest with the ARC. ARC will get only management fee from the trusts. Any upside in between acquired price and realized price will be shared with the beneficiary of the trusts (Banks/FIs) and ARC. Any downside in between acquired price and realized price will be borne by the beneficiary of the trusts (Banks/FIs). What is ARCIL? ARCIL is the first asset reconstruction company (ARC) in the country to commence the business of resolution of non-performing loans (NPLs) acquired from Indian banks and financial institutions. It commenced business consequent to the enactment of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (Securitisation Act, 2002). As the first ARC, Arcil played a pioneering role in setting standards for the industry in India. It has been spearheading the drive to recreate value out of NPLs and in doing so, it continues to play a proactive role in reenergizing the Indian industry through critical times.


CREDIT RATING What is Credit Rating? Credit Rating is a grade assigned to a business concern to denote the current assessment of the credit worthiness of the concern, with respect to its future ability to meet its obligations in re-payment of principal and interest. These grades (ratings) are based on various factors such as a borrower's networth, payment history, industry's future prospects, etc. However, there is no exact science to rating a borrower's credit, and different lenders may assign different grades to the same borrower. Ratings by the Credit rating agencies is based on a quantitative study of the financials of the company and qualitative factors such as management quality and integrity, the strength of its brands, parent support etc. The main focus while rating a company is to measure the relative ability and willingness of the issuer of the instrumentto meet its obligations on the due dates. Industry risk is another factor which determines the cap for the ratings. For example, non-banking financial companies rarely get high ratings because of the high risk tag attached to this sector. What are the different kinds of ratings? Now a days ratings are assigned by the rating agencies for various types of instruments. Assigning ratings to bonds (medium term, long term bonds) issued by corporates and public sector undertakings is the most popular. Ratings are also popular for fixed deposits, Commercial Papers, Certificate of Deposits, Debentures(whether partly, fully or non-convertible) etc. Ratings for loans, future receivables, mutual funds, earnings prospects of companies, claims paying ability of insurance companies, or of marketers of LPG and kerosene, real estate developers are also hitting the market. Rating is for Instrument and Not company? It should be remembered that rating is assigned to a specific instrument rather than the company. Thus ratings on different instruments for the same company may differ depending on the tenure of different instruments (generally longer the duration, higher the risk, and thus lower the rating) and on the in-built protection measures for that instrument (e.g. guaranteed by another party etc.) Thus, the top rating given to an instrument of short term CP does not necessarily means that it is safe to invest in 10 year debentures of the same company. In India, the rating of an instrument is done only when the issuer requests for the same. The issuer is required to pay fees for this service. Moreover, it needs to be remembered that the rating is not a recommendation to buy, hold or sell an instrument. Rating only indicates the current safety level of investment in such a company. Rating can be changed by the rating agencies at any point of time. Rating Agencies : CRISIL, CARE, ICRA, FITCH are the rating agencies in India. CRISIL is the oldest rating agency in India and was originally promoted by ICICI. ICRA was promoted by IFCI. CARE was promoted by IDBI. RATING SCALES : Although different rating agencies sometime use different symbols to indicate the rating, yet the following rating system used by CRISIL for debentures / bonds (long term debt instruments) indicates the most popular rating assignment system in India :-

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 98 High Investment Grades :-

AAA (Triple A) Highest Safety

ÀAA' rating indicates "highest safety" of timely payment of interest and principal. Though the circumstances providing this degree of safety can change, yet such changes as can be envisaged are most unlikely to affect adversely the fundamentally strong position of such issues.

AA (Double A) High Safety

'AA' ratings indicate "high safety" of timely payment of interest and principal. They differ in safety from ÀAA' issues only marginally.

Investment Grades :-

A Adequate Safety

À' rating indicate "adequate safety" of timely payment of interest and principal; however, changes in circumstances can adversely affect such issues more than those in the higher rated categories.

BBB (Triple B) Moderate Safety

`BBB' rating indicate "sufficient safety" of timely payment of interest and principal for the present; however, changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity to pay interest and repay principal than for debentures in higher rated categories.

Speculative Grades :-

BB (Double B) Inadequate Safety

`BB' rating indicate "inadequate safety" of timely payment of interest and principal; while they are less susceptible to default than other speculative grade debentures in the immediate future, the uncertainties that the issuer faces could lead to inadequate capacity to make timely interest and principal payments.

B High Risk

`B' rating indicate "greater susceptibility to default"; while currently interest and principal payments are met, adverse business or economic conditions would lead to lack of ability or willingness to pay interest or principal.

C Substantial Risk

`C' rating indicate the presence of factors that make them "vulnerable to defaul"t; timely payment of interest and principal is possible only if favourable circumstances continue.

D In Default

`D' rating indicate default and in arrears of interest or principal payments or are expected to default on maturity. Such debentures are extremely speculative and returns from these debentures may be realized only on reorganisation or liquidation.

Note : 1) The rating agencies also apply "+" (plus) or "-" (minus) signs for ratings from AA to D. These signs reflect comparative standing within the category. The ‘+’ suffix denotes a relatively higher standing within the category while the ‘-’ rating indicates a relatively lower standing within the category. Thus any instrument from the highest to the lowest grade can have a ‘+’ or a ‘-’ suffix.


Securitization What is Securitization : RBI in its circular on Securitization of Standard Assets, describes Securitization “as a process by which assets are sold to a bankruptcy remote special purpose vehicle (SPV) in return for an immediate cash payment”. In such cases the cash flow from the underlying pool of assets is used to service the securities issued by the SPV. Let us try to understand it from a layman’s view. In the normal course assets like loans and securities held by banks/financial institutions are expected to yield a quantifiable stream of future income (e.g. EMIs etc.) . However, since this income is yet to be realised, it cannot be brought onto their books immediately. Through the process of Securitization Banks try to encash these future flow of as-yet-unrealised income. We can also sum up that securitisation means the conversion of existing or future cash in-flows into tradable security which then is sold in the market. The cash inflow from financial assets such as mortgage loans, automobile loans, trade receivables, credit card receivables, fare collections become the security against which borrowings are raised. Securitization thus follows a two-stage process. In the first stage there is sale of single asset or pooling and sale of pool of assets to a 'bankruptcy remote' special purpose vehicle (SPV) in return for an immediate cash payment and in the second stage repackaging and selling the security interests representing claims on incoming cash flows from the asset or pool of assets to third party investors by issuance of tradable debt securities. Process of Securitization : We have seen above that Securitisation is a process by which the future cash inflows of an entity ( originator ) are converted and sold as debt instruments. These debt instruments are popularly known as “Pay Through or Pass Through Certificates”, with a fixed rate of return to the holders of beneficial interest. Under this process, the originator of a typical securitisation actually transfers a portfolio of financial assets to a “Special Purpose Vehicle” ( SPV ). (An SPV is an entity specially created for doing the securitisation deal. It invites investment from investors, uses the invested funds to acquire to receivables of the originator An SPV may be a trust, corporation, or any other legal entity.) As a consideration for the transfer of such a portfolio, the originator gets cash up-front on the basis of a mutually agreed valuation of the receivables. The transfer value of the receivables is arrived in such a way so as to give the lenders a reasonable rate of return. In ‘pass-through’ and ‘pay-through’ securitisations, receivables are transferred to the SPV at the inception of the securitisation, and no further transfers are made. All cash collections are paid to the holders of beneficial interests in the SPV ( basically the lenders). Thus, we can say that a securitisation deal usually passes through the following stages : has the following stages :-

· First of all the originator determines which assets they wants to securitise. · At second stage originator has to find out a SPV or new SPV is formed. · The SPV collects the funds from investors and in return issues securities to

them. · The SPV acquires the receivables under an agreement at their discounted

value. · The Servicer for the transaction is appointed, who is usually the originator. · The debtors are /are not notified depending on the legal requirements. · The Servicer collects the receivables, usually in an escrow mechanism, and

pays off the collection to the SPV.


· The SPV either passes the collection to the investors, or reinvests the same to pay off to investors at stated intervals.

· In case of default, the servicer takes action against the debtors as the SPV’s agent.

· When only a small amount of outstanding receivables are left to be collected, the originator may clean up the transaction by buying back the outstanding receivables.

· At the end of the transaction, the originator’s profit, if retained and subject to any losses to the extent agreed by the originator, in the transaction is paid off.

Advantages of the Securitization :

· Securitization helps in raise funds for the standard assets, though the rating of the originator may not be high;

· Securitised assets ( receivables ) go off the balance sheet of the originator which at times can be of great help to the originator. For example, a bank may need to reduce its exposure to credit so as to meet the capital adequacy norms.

· Securitization also helps in generating liquidity which may ;be critical at times for the bank / company.

· Small investors are able to profit from such deals as under this scheme even they can invest small amounts through SPV and acquire beneficial interest in the securitized assets. .

Disadvantages of the Securitization :

· Securitization is an off-balance sheet item. The originator may thus be able to hide the true picture of its financial health by securitization of its good assets and keeping only sub-standard assets in its portfolio.

· Another disadvantage of securitization is its opagueness. For example, a company may have taken huge liabilities but that may not be reflected in the balance sheet or conventional financial statements of the company. This is especially true where the securitisation is with recourse i.e. if the receivables which have been securitised to the SPV, but later become NPA. In such a case, the SPV will have the right to recover the dues from the originator. Thus, in such cases, it may be realized later on that the originator actually had a large amount of contingent liabilities but these were not reflected in the balance sheet.

Securitization in Indian Market : Securitisation in India started around 1991. However, the first few transactions that took place during the period from 1991-2000 period were in the nature ofsecured lending. However, it was from 2002 that this segment saw some renewed activity with auto loans on the forefront. Indian market was still afraid to take chances and the issues were predominantly of ‘AAA’ rated notes. There are only few players in the Indian market , which is dominated by few private sector banks and some aggressive Mutufal Funds only. Public sector banks remain mostly out of picture due to various reasons including the legal issues. These impediments have failed to develop the secondary market. In spite of number of constraints, the securitization market in India grew significantly during the period from 2002 to 2004. In April 2005 RBI issued the draft guidelines. This resulted in slow down in the market as banks were readjusting their strategies in the light of draft guidelines.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 101 In February 2006, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued final guidelines for the Securitisation of Standard Assets. These guidelines have consolidated a number of prevailing market practices with some stringent requirements on capital and profit recognition. These guidelines are likely to further slow down the issuance of these assets as market will take its own time to re-adjust to the revised guidelines which are considered as stringent. However, in the long run the market is likely to grow as now legal framework is available and RBI has given its node for this segment of activitiy. Indian securitisation market is still young and banks have only limited exposure in this segment. However, slowly it is maturing rapidly through innovation, increasing sophistication and new issuances. What do you understand by Pass Through Certificates? A Pass Through Certificate is an instrument which signifies transfer of interest in the receivable in favour of the holder of the Pass Through Certificate. In this case, the investors in a pass through transaction acquire the receivables, subject to all their fluctuations, prepayment etc. The material risks and rewards in the asset portfolio, such as the risk of interest rate variations, risk of prepayments, etc. are transferred to the investors. The main features of Pass Through Certificate can be summed as follows:- (a) Investors get a proportional interest in pool of receivables (b) Collections made later on are divided proportionally (c) All investors receive proportional payments. (d) Csh collected by the SPV is not reinvested. What do you understand by Pay Through Certificates? Under “ Pay Through Certificates”, the SPV instead of transferring undivided interest on the receivables, actually issues debt securities (for example bonds, repayable on fixed dates). These debt securities in turn are backed by the mortgages transferred by the originator to the SPV. Here the SPV can make temporary reinvestment of cash flows to the extent required for bridging the gap between the date of payments on the mortgages along with the income out of reinvestment to retire the bonds. Such bonds were called mortgage – backed bonds.


AMERICAN DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS (ADR) & GLOBAL DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS (GDR)

Depository Receipts : Depository Receipts are a type of negotiable (transferable) financial security, representing a security, usually in the form of equity, issued by a foreign publicly-listed company. However, DRs are traded on a local stock exchange though the foreign public listed company is not traded on the local exchange. Thus, the DRs are physical certificates, which allow investors to hold shares in equity of other countries. . This type of instruments first started in USA in late 1920s and are commonly known as American depository receipt (ADR). Later on these have become popular in other parts of the world also in the form of Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). Some other common type of DRs are European DRs and International DRs. In nut shell we can say ADRs are typically traded on a US national stock exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the American Stock Exchange, while GDRs are commonly listed on European stock exchanges such as the London Stock Exchange. Both ADRs and GDRs are usually denominated in US dollars, but these can also be denominated in Euros. How do Depository Receipts Created? When a foreign company wants to list its securities on another country’s stock exchange, it can do so through Depository Receipts (DR) mode. . To allow creation of DRs, the shares of the foreign company, which the DRs represent, are first of all delivered and deposited with the custodian bank of the depository through which they intend to create the DR. On receipt of the delivery of shares, the custodial bank creates DRs and issues the same to investors in the country where the DRs are intended to be listed. These DRs are then listed and traded in the local stock exchanges of that country. What are ADRs : American Depository Receipts popularly known as ADRs were introduced in the American market in 1927. ADR is a security issued by a company outside the U.S. which physically remains in the country of issue, usually in the custody of a bank, but is traded on U.S. stock exchanges. In other words, ADR is a stock that trades in the United States but represents a specified number of shares in a foreign corporation. Thus, we can say ADRs are one or more units of a foreign security traded in American market. They are traded just like regular stocks of other corporate but are issued / sponsored in the U.S. by a bank or brokerage. ADRs were introduced with a view to simplify the physical handling and legal technicalities governing foreign securities as a result of the complexities involved in buying shares in foreign countries. Trading in foreign securities is prone to number of difficulties like different prices and in different currency values, which keep in changing almost on daily basis. In view of such problems, U.S. banks found a simple methodology wherein they purchase a bulk lot of shares from foreign company and then bundle these shares into groups, and reissue them and get these quoted on American stock markets. For the American public ADRs simplify investing. So when Americans purchase Infy (the Infosys Technologies ADR) stocks listed on Nasdaq, they do so directly in dollars, without converting them from rupees. Such companies are required to declqare

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 103 financial results according to a standard accounting principle, thus, making their earnings more transparent. An American investor holding an ADR does not have voting rights in the company. The above indicates that ADRs are issued to offer investment routes that avoid the expensive and cumbersome laws that apply sometimes to non-citizens buying shares on local exchanges. ADRs are listed on the NYSE, AMEX, or NASDAQ. Global Depository Receipt (GDR): These are similar to the ADR but are usually listed on exchanges outside the U.S., such as Luxembourg or London. Dividends are usually paid in U.S. dollars. The first GDR was issued in 1990. ADVANTAGES OF ADRs: There are many advantages of ADRs. For individuals, ADRs are an easy and cost effective way to buy shares of a foreign company. The individuals are able to save considerable money and energy by trading in ADRs, as it reduces administrative costs and avoids foreign taxes on each transaction. Foreign entities prefer ADRs, because they get more U.S. exposure and it allows them to tap the American equity markets. . The shares represented by ADRs are without voting rights. However, any foreigner can purchase these securities whereas shares in India can be purchased on Indian Stock Exchanges only by NRIs or PIOs or FIIs. The purchaser has a theoretical right to exchange the receipt without voting rights for the shares with voting rights (RBI permission required) but in practice, no one appears to be interested in exercising this right. Some Major ADRs issued by Indian Companies : Among the Indian ADRs listed on the US markets, are Infy (the Infosys Technologies ADR), WIT (the Wipro ADR), Rdy(the Dr Reddy’s Lab ADR), and Say (the Satyam Computer ADS) What are Indian Depository Receipts (IDR) : Recently SEBI has issued guidelines for foreign companies who wish to raise capital in India by issuing Indian Depository Receipts. Thus, IDRs will be transferable securities to be listed on Indian stock exchanges in the form of depository receipts. Such IDRs will be created by a Domestic Depositories in India against the underlying equity shares of the issuing company which is incorporated outside India. Though IDRs will be freely priced., yet in the prospectus the issue price has to be justified. Each IDR will represent a certain number of shares of the foreign company. The shares will not be listed in India , but have to be listed in the home country. The IDRs will allow the Indian investors to tap the opportunities in stocks of foreign companies and that too without the risk of investing directly which may not be too friendly. Thus, now Indian investors will have easy access to international capital market. Normally, the DR are allowed to be exchanged for the underlying shares held by the custodian and sold in the home country and vice-versa. However, in the case of IDRs, automatic fungibility is not permitted.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 104 SEBI has issued guidelines for issuance of IDRs in April, 2006, Some of the major norms for issuance of IDRs are as follows. SEBI has set Rs 50 crore as the lower limit for the IDRs to be issued by the Indian companies. Moreover, the minimum investment required in the IDR issue by the investors has been fixed at Rs two lakh. Non-Resident Indians and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have not been allowed to purchase or possess IDRs without special permission from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Also, the IDR issuing company should have good track record with respect to securities market regulations and companies not meeting the criteria will not be allowed to raise funds from the domestic market If the IDR issuer fails to receive minimum 90 per cent subscription on the date of closure of the issue, or the subscription level later falls below 90 per cent due to cheques not being honoured or withdrawal of applications, the company has to refund the entire subscription amount received, SEBI said. Also, in case of delay beyond eight days after the company becomes liable to pay the amount, the company shall pay interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum for the period of delay.


INDIAN BUDGET What is Budget : Budget is a financial statement of planned revenue and expenditure of the Government Of India in respect of a financial year. Indian Constitution authorises the government to present before the Parliament, the annual financial statement for the fiscal year running from 1 April to 31 March. The budget at a glance gives a list of the government's receipts and expenditure in a brief manner along with the break up of plan and non plan receipts and expenditure, resources transferred to state and UT Governments, highlights of central plan. The explanatory notes given complete the picture to make the reader understand various terms. This Annual Financial Statement shows the receipts and payments of government under the three parts in which government accounts are kept: (a) Consolidated Fund; (b) Contingency Fund; and (c) Public Account . The Union Budget actually comprises of the (i) Revenue Budget and the (ii) Capital Budget. This is because, under the Constitution, the Budget has to distinguish expenditure on revenue account from other expenditure. Capital Budget : Capital budget consists of capital receipts and payments. Capital Expenditure / Payments : It comprises of

· expenditure on acquisition of assets like land, building and machinery, and also investments in shares, etc.; and

· loans and advances granted by the Union Government to State and Union Territory governments, government companies, corporations and other parties.

The Capital Budget also incorporates transactions in the Public Account. Capital Receipts : The major items of capital receipts are

· loans raised by the Government from the public (called market loans); · borrowings by the Government from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and

other parties through sale of Treasury Bills; · loans received from foreign governments and bodies; and · recoveries of loans granted by the Union Government to State governments,

Union Territories and other parties. Capital receipts also include the proceeds from disinvestment of government equity in public enterprises. Revenue Budget : It consists of revenue receipts of government (revenues from tax and other sources) and the expenditure met from these revenues. Tax revenues are made up of taxes and other duties that the Union government levies. The other receipts consist mainly of interest and dividend on investments made by Government, fees, and other receipts for services rendered by Government. Revenue expenditure is the for the normal day-to-day running of Government departments and various services, interest charged on debt incurred by Government, subsidies, etc. Usually, revenue expenditure covers all the expenditure that does not create assets. However, all grants given to State governments and other parties are also clubbed under revenue expenditure, although some of them may go into the creation of assets.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 106 Revenue Receipts : Revenue receipts consist of tax collected by the government and other receipts consisting of interest and dividend on investments made by government, fees and other receipts for services rendered by government Every year at the time of Budget, government also issues a key to Budget. This gives in detail about the various concepts of Budget and must be read by everybody who wants to known what exactly is the Budget in Indian context. Click BELOW to view the Key to Budget for 2003-04

SOME OF THE TERMS USED IN INDIAN BUDGET Budget deficit : It is the excess of total expenditure over total receipts, with borrowing not included among receipts. This deficit is funded by borrowing. In other words, it is the amount by which planned expenditure is greater than the expected income for a particular period/ project. Consolidated Fund : All revenues received by Government, the loans raised by it, and receipts from recoveries of loans granted by it, form the Consolidated Fund. All expenditure of Government is incurred from the Consolidated Fund and no amount can be withdrawn from the Fund without authorization from Parliament. Contingency Fund : This is the fund into which the Government uses in emergencies - to meet urgent, unforeseen expenditures which can't wait for authorization by Parliament. The Contingency Fund is an more like an imprest placed at the disposal of the President for such financial exigencies. The Government subsequently obtains Parliamentary approval for such expenditure and for the withdrawal of an equivalent amount from the Consolidated Fund. The amount spent from the Contingency Fund is recouped to the Fund. CENVAT : This expands to Central Value Added Tax, an excise duty levied on manufacturers. It was introduced in the budget of 2000-01, with a single rate of 16% across the board with special excise duty (SED) on various goods. It was designed to reduce the cascading effect of indirect taxes on final products. As a scheme, CENVAT is more liberal and extensive than the erstwhile MODVAT, with most goods being brought within its ambit and no declarations or statutory records needed. Gross National Product : It is the total market value of the finished goods and services manufactured within the country in a given financial year, plus income earned by the local residents from investments made abroad, minus the income earned by foreigners in the domestic market. Fiscal Deficit : This is the gap between the government's total spending and the sum of its revenue receipts and non-debt capital receipts. It represents the total amount of borrowed funds required by the government to fully meet its expenditure Non - Plan Expenditure : It consists of Revenue and Capital Expenditure on interest payments, Defense Expenditure, subsidies, postal deficit, police, pensions, economic services, loans to public sector enterprises and loans as well as grants to State governments, Union territories and foreign governments.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 107 Revenue Deficit : The difference between revenue expenditure and revenue receipt is known as revenue deficit. It shows the shortfall of government’s current receipts over current expenditure. If the capital expenditure and capital receipts are taken into account too, there will be a gap between the receipts and expenditure of a year. This gap constitutes the overall budgetary deficit, and it is covered by the issue of 91-day Treasury Bills, mostly held by the RBI. Plan Outlay : Plan Outlay is the amount for expenditure on projects, schemes and programmes announced in the Plan. The money for the Plan Outlay is raised through budgetary support and internal and extra-budgetary resources. The budgetary support is also shown as plan expenditure in government accounts Plan Expenditure : The government's expenditure can be broken up into Plan and Non-plan Expenditure. Money given from the government's account for the central Plan is called Plan Expenditure. This is developmental in nature and is spent on schemes detailed in the Plan.


CAMELSIn 1994, the RBI established the Board of Financial Supervision (BFS), which operates as a unit of the RBI. The entire supervisory mechanism was realigned to suit the changing needs of a strong and stable financial system. The supervisory jurisdiction of the BFS was slowly extended to the entire financial system barring the capital market institutions and the insurance sector. Its mandate is to strengthen supervision of the financial system by integrating oversight of the activities of financial services firms. The BFS has also established a sub-committee to routinely examine auditing practices, quality, and coverage. In addition to the normal on-site inspections, Reserve Bank of India also conducts off-site surveillance which particularly focuses on the risk profile of the supervised entity. The Off-site Monitoring and Surveillance System (OSMOS) was introduced in 1995 as an additional tool for supervision of commercial banks. It was introduced with the aim to supplement the on-site inspections. Under off-site system, 12 returns (called DSB returns) are called from the financial institutions, wich focus on supervisory concerns such as capital adequacy, asset quality, large credits and concentrations, connected lending, earnings and risk exposures (viz. currency, liquidity and interest rate risks). In 1995, RBI had set up a working group under the chairmanship of Shri S. Padmanabhan to review the banking supervision system. The Committee certain recommendations and based on such suggetions a rating system for domestic and foreign banks based on the international CAMELS model combining financial management and systems and control elements was introduced for the inspection cycle commencing from July 1998. It recommended that the banks should be rated on a five point scale (A to E) based on th elines of international CAMELS rating model. CAMELS evaluates banks on the following six parameters :- (a) Capital Adequacy :Capital adequacy is measured by the ratio of capital to risk-weighted assets (CRAR). A sound capital base strengthens confidence of depositors (b) Asset Quality : One of the indicators for asset quality is the ratio of non-performing loans to total loans (GNPA). The gross non-performing loans to gross advances ratio is more indicative of the quality of credit decisions made by bankers. Higher GNPA is indicative of poor credit decision-making. (c) Management : The ratio of non-interest expenditures to total assets (MGNT) can be one of the measures to assess the working of the management. . This variable, which includes a variety of expenses, such as payroll, workers compensation and training investment, reflects the management policy stance. (d) Earnings : It can be measured as the the return on asset ratio. (e) Liquidity : Cash maintained by the banks and balances with central bank, to total asset ratio (LQD) is an indicator of bank's liquidity. In general, banks with a larger volume of liquid assets are perceived safe, since these assets would allow banks to meet unexpected withdrawals. (f) Systems and Control Each of the above six parameters are weighted on a scale of 1 to 100 and contains number of sub-parameters with individual weightages.


Rating Symbol Rating symbol indicates

A Bank is sound in every respect

B Bank is fundamentally sound but with moderate weaknesses

C financial, operational or compliance weaknesses that give cause for supervisory concern.

D serious or immoderate finance, operational and managerial weaknesses that could impair future viability

E critical financial weaknesses and there is high possibililty of failure in the near future.


PROMPT CORRECTIVE ACTIONIn December, 2002, Reserve Bank of India introduced risk-based supervision for banks put in place a prompt corrective action mechanism when banks breach certain specified trigger points of capital adequacy, return on assets and non-performing assets etc. Background for introduction of PCA:In its study Report, RBI has indicated the need and justification for introducting the Prompt Corrective Action scheme. It says "The 1980s and early 1990s were a period of great stress and turmoil for banks and financial institutions all over the globe, viz. Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, several Nordic countries, Venezuela and USA, etc. In USA, more than 1600 commercial and savings banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) were either closed or given FDIC financial assistance during this period. More than 900 Savings and Loan Associations were closed or merged with assistance from Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) during 1983 to 1990. The cumulative losses incurred by the failed institutions exceeded US $ 100 billion. These losses resulted in the insolvency and closure of FSLIC and its replacement by the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) and the Savings Association Insurance Fund (SAIF)..... These events led to the search for appropriate supervisory strategies to avoid bank failures as they can have a destabilising effect on the economy. For this reason, medium sized or large banks are rarely closed and the governments try to keep them afloat. In both industrial and emerging market economies, bank rescues and mergers are far more common than outright closure of the banks. If banks are not to be allowed to fail, it is essential that corrective action is taken well in time when the bank still has adequate cushion of capital so as to minimise the cost to the insurance fund / public exchequer in the event of a forced liquidation of the bank. In this context, supervisory action can be at two levels:

early stage recognition of problems and corrective actions supervision and monitoring of troubled banks

Identifying problem banks early is one of the responsibilities of bank supervisors. The other responsibility is to monitor the behaviour of troubled banks in an attempt either to prevent failure or to limit losses. These objectives are sought to be achieved by establishing various trigger points and graded mandatory responses by the supervisors. This represents partial replacement of regulatory discretion by rules, as the prescribed actions are generally likely to be a mix of mandatory and discretionary actions. The case for automatic rules is that it will contain regulatory forbearance (i.e. hoping that problems will solve themselves) - which has been a very common complaint against the supervisors - and will lead to prompter action. Prompt actions are important as the cost of restructuring / liquidation of a bank is likely to rise, the longer that action is delayed." The scheme was origianlly implemented initially for a period of one year. Scheme :As per the scheme, the Reserve Bank of India will initiate certain Structured Actions in respect of the banks which have hit the Trigger Points in terms of CRAR, Net NPA and ROA. The Reserve Bank, at its discretion, can also resort to additional actions (Discretionary Actions) as indicated under each of the Trigger Points.


Trigger Points Structured Action Discretionary Actions

CRR :

(i) CRAR less than 9%, but equal or more than 6%

(a)Submission and implementation of capital restoration plan by the bank (b)Bank will restrict expansion of its risk-weighted assets (c) Bank will not enter into new lines of business (d) Bank will not access / renew costly deposits and CDs (e) Bank will reduce / skip dividend payments

(i) RBI will order recapitalisation (ii)Bank will not increase its stake in subsidiaries (iii) Bank will reduce its exposure to sensitive sectors like capital market, real estate or investment in non-SLR securities (iv) RBI will impose restrictions on the bank on borrowings from inter bank market (v) Bank will revise its credit / investment strategyand controls

(ii) CRAR less than 6%, but equal or more than 3%

(a) All Structured actions as in earlier zone (b) Discussion by RBI with the bank’s Board on corrective plan of action (c) RBI will order recapitalisation (d) Bank will not increase its stake in subsidiaries (e) Bank will revise its credit / investment strategy and controls

(i) Bank / Govt. to take steps to bring in new Management / Board (ii) Bank will appoint consultants for business/ organisational restructuring (iii) Bank / Govt. to take steps to change promoters / to change ownership (iv) RBI / Govt. will take steps to merge the bank if it fails to submit / implement recapitalisation plan or fails to recapitalise pursuant to an order, within such period as RBI may stipulate

(iii) CRAR less than 3%

(a) Bank / Govt. to take steps to bring in new Management / Board (b) Bank will appoint consultants for business / organisational restructuring (c) Bank / Govt. to take steps to change promoters / to change ownership (d) RBI / Govt. will take steps to merge the bank if it fails to submit / implement recapitalisation plan or fails to recapitalise pursuant to an order, within such period as RBI may stipulate

NPAs :

(i) Net NPAs over 10% but less than

(a) Bank to undertake special drive to reduce the stock of NPAs and contain generation of fresh NPAs

(i) Bank will not enter into new lines of business

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 112 15% (b) Bank will review its loan policy

(c) Bank will take steps to upgrade credit appraisal skills and systems (d) Bank will strengthen follow-up of advances including loan review mechanism for large loans (e)Bank will follow-up suit filed / decreed debts effectively (f) Bank will put in place proper credit-risk management polices / process / procedures / prudential limits (g) Bank will reduce loan concentration - individual, group, sector, industry, etc.

(ii) Bank will reduce / skip dividend payments (iii)Bank will not increase its stake in subsidiaries

(ii) Net NPAs 15% and above

(a) All Structured actions as in earlier zone (b) Discussion by RBI with the bank’s Board on corrective plan of action (c) Bank will not enter into new lines of business (d) Bank will reduce / skip dividend payments (e) Bank will not increase its stake in subsidiaries

Return on Assets :

Return on Assets below 0.25%

(a) Bank will not access / renew costly deposits and CDs (b) Bank will take steps to Increase fee-based income (c) Bank will take steps to contain administrative expenses (d)Bank will launch special drive to reduce the stock of NPAs and contain generation of fresh NPAs (e) Bank will not enter into new lines of business (f) Bank will reduce / skip dividend payments (g) RBI will impose restrictions on the bank on borrowings from inter bank market

(a) Bank will not incur any capital expenditure other than for technological upgradation and for such emergent replacements within Board approved limits (b) Bank will not expand its staff / fill up vacancies

Any other action:In addition to the above actions, Reserve Bank has the right to direct a bank to take any other action or implement any other direction, in the interest of the concerned bank or in the interest of its depositors.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 113 Under the PCA framework, the larger the deterioration based on the trigger points, the tighter the stipulations for the bank so that the liability does not increase further. WHO WAS HIT BY PCA :The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) slapped a “prompt corrective action” (PCA) notice on Dena Bank in February, 2003. .RBI vide letter dated February 24, 2003 noted that the return for the quarter ended December 2002 have shown the capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of Dena Bank to be 7.85%, net non-performing assets to be 13.38% and the return on assets to be 0.19%. It was the first time that such a notice was served on a commercial bank after the regulation has been brought out by the RBI. Dena Bank had hit the trigger points of all the three parameters that call for PCA. The bank was asked to undertake special drive to reduce the stock of NPAs and contain fresh generation of NPAs in an aggressive manner.


NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS Any body connected with business comes across quite frequently with words like "Negotiable Instruments". These have great significance in the modern business world, but very few people really know what are Negotiable Instruments and what is the significance if an instrument falls in the category of Negotiable Instruments. What is Negotiable Instrument? In India we have Negotiable Instruments Act, which broadly governs the negotiable instruments. However, this Act does not define a Negotiable Instrument and Section 13 merely states "a negotiable instrument means a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque payable either to order or bearer". This clearly indicates that the list of the instruments mentioned in the Act are not exhaustive and any other instrument, which satisfies the essential features of "negotiability" will be treated as Negotiable Instruments. In India, the instruments like Govt Promissory Notes, Shah Jog Hundis, Delivery Orders, Railway Receipts, Dividend Warrants etc are also treated as negotiable instrument. Special Features/Characteristics of Negotiable Instruments The negotiable instruments have some special characteristics which distinguish them from other kinds of instruments. Any body dealing with Negotiable Instruments needs to know of these special features so as to protect his interests. Main characteristics of such instruments are :- (a) These instruments are easily transferable from person to person and the ownership of the property is passed on by (i) mere delivery in case of bearer instruments; (ii) endorsement and delivery in case of order instruments. (b) These instruments confer absolute and good title on the transferee, who takes it in good faith, for value and without notice of the fact that the transferor had defective title thereto. This is one of the most important characteristics of the Negotiable Instruments The significance of this characteristics can be best judged from following example. A person who takes a negotiable instrument (say a cheque) from another person, who had stolen it from somebody else, will have absolute and undisputable title to the instrument, provided he receives he same for value (i.e. after paying its full value) and in good faith without knowing that the transferor was not the true owner of the instrument. Such a person is called 'holder in due course' and his interest in the instrument is well protected by the law. (c) Another legal right of great significance is the right of the "holder in due course" to sue upon the instrument in his own name. This means, he can recover the amount of the instrument from the party liable to pay thereon. In addition to above special features, the Negotiable Instruments Act under Section 118 and 119, certain presumptions are taken for granted, unless contrary is proved. Some of such presumptions are :- (i) Every negotiable instrument was made or drawn, accepted, endorsed, negotiated or transferred for consideration. (ii) Every negotiable instrument bearing a date was made or drawn on such date. (iii) Every accepted Bill of Exchange was accepted within a reasonable time after the date mentioned therein, but before the date of its maturity.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 115 (iv) Every transfer of a negotiable instrument was made before the date of maturity (in case of instrument payable otherwise than on demand). (v) The endorsements appearing upon an instrument were made in the order in which they appear on the instrument. (vi) The lost negotiable instrument was duly stamped. (vii) A holder of a negotiable instrument is a holder in due course. However, under certain conditions like fraud or unlawful consideration, the burden of proving that the holder is a holder in due course may lie upon him.


Balance Sheet What is Balance Sheet : The balance sheet is an accounting statement that summarises the various assets, liabilities and equities held by a company on a specific date. The equities are usually considered as part of the liabilities. The balance sheet is always drawn up at the close of business day, but is most relevant on the last day of the company's accounting period (the balance sheet date). Balance sheet is an important documents not only for bank managers who sanction loan but is equally important to others who give credits and invest in equity etc. All creditors and investors all need to familiarize themselves with the assets, liabilities, and equity of a company. The balance sheet is the best place to find all information at one place. The reason as to why balance sheet is so called is that it is statement where Assets = Liabilities + Equity Major Heads of Balance Sheet : Liabilities:- 1. Share Capital 2. Reserve and Surplus 3. Secured Loans 4. Unsecured Loans 5. Current Liabilities and Provisions

Assets :- 1. Fixed Assets 2. Investments 3. Current Assets, Loans of Advances 4. Miscellaneous Expenses 5. Profit and Loss Account (Debit balance)

Assets which are likely to be collectible in the short term (usually within 12 months) are considered a "current" asset, while anything owed by the company in the same time frame is considered as a current liability. VARIOUS TYPES OF CAPITALS (OWNED FUNDS) AND RESERVE DEFINED : (a) Share Capital : It is important to understand the difference between the following types of share capitals :- (i) Authorised Capital : This is the maximum amount of capital that can be raised by the company. However, it is not compulsory for the company to raise the full authorised capital. (ii) Issued Capital : This is the amount of capital which company intends to raise at a given point of time. This amount is usually mentioned in the Memorandum of Association of a company. (iii) Subscribed Capital : This is the capital which has actually been subscribed. (iv) Paid Up capital : This is the amount of capital that has been called and received against the subscribed capital. For the purpose of Balance Sheet, paid up capital is of utmost importance (b) Reserves : - There are various types of reserves, some of important types of reserves are :- (i) Share Premium Reserve : Whenever a company issues shares on premium, the amount collected by the company above the face value of the share is called "premium". The amount collected as "premium" is known as share premium reserve. On such share premium reserve no dividend is payable.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 117 (ii) Revaluation Reserves : Sometimes a company re-values (i.e. revises) its assets. This re-valuation is done to make the asset show the true market value of the asset. Thus asset is shown at a higher value than the previous book value and the corresponding increase is created on liability side by increasing reserves under "revaluation reserves". (iii) Depreciation Reserve : Usually when a depreciation is made in asset, the value of the asset is credited with the depreciation amount and equal amount is debited to profit and loss account. However, sometimes companies companies debit the depreciation amount to profit and loss account, but instead of crediting the same to asset account, they credit the amount to Depreciation Reserve Account. Such an entry is called deprecaition reserve. Therefore, while calculating the networth of a company, it should be excluded from the owned funds by setting it off against the value of the fixed assets. (iv) General Reserves : This kind of reserves consists of the profits which have not been actually distributed among the shareholders. This acts as a cushion for the company for any future loss. VARIOUS TYPES OF ASSETS DEFINED : Assets: Items that the business owns and on which a value can be placed. Intangible assets: These are 'non-monetary' but 'identifiable' assets that have no physical substance. Current accounting guidelines mean they almost always relate to goodwill, though may include patents, licenses, trademarks and so on. Tangible assets: These are 'long-lived' physical items held for the purpose of earning revenue. Typically these assets include land, property, plant, machinery, fixtures, fittings and motor vehicles. Fixed asset investments: These are long-term investments, including 'ownership interests' held in other companies. For joint ventures and associates, the company's share of the entity's assets is shown. Other long-term 'minority' investments held can be shown at historical cost or current valuation, though the accounting notes must declare These are asset, the benefit of which is usually available to the entity over several accounting periods. Example of fixed assets include, land, building, Plant & Machinery. Furniture & Fittings, Vehicles, etc. In case of fixed assets, usually a part of its life is 'being utilised in a particular accounting year, and thus a certain portion of its cost (depending upon the total expected economic life of the asset), is appropriated in the shape of "depreciation" in each accounting year The value of fixed assets at original cost is called "Gross Fixed Assets" and the value of the asset arrived after deducting depreciation is called "Net Fixed Assets". Current assets: Cash in the bank and 'temporary' assets that the company expects to turn into cash. Stocks (at the lower of either cost or net realisable value), any goods held for resale, raw materials to be used in manufacture and work in progress.are examples of such assets. Accounts Receivable: When credit sale is made, but no bill of exchange/promissory note duly accepted/signed is held, the amount of such credit sale is known as "Accounts Receivable".

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 118 Inventory: Stock of raw material, stock-in-process (also called as semi-finished goods), finished goods and consumable stores are known as inventory. Usually one of the following two methods is used for valuation of inventory:- (a) FIFO = FIRST - IN FIRST OUT: In this method, it is assumed that inventory first purchased is first consumed/sold out and hence the valuation is done as per purchase price of those items purchased earlier. (b) LIFO = LAST IN FIRST OUT: In this method, the valuation of item sold first is done as per purchase price of the last one, assuming that the items purchased in the last are consumed / sold. Investments: A firm may invest its surplus fund in Government Securities or debt instruments or equities of the corporate sector. VARIOUS TYPES OF LIABILITIES DEFINED : Liabilities: All claims of outsiders against the entity are called liability. It represents all the things of value, which one owes to others. Current liabilities: The liabilities which are to be met out of the current assets within one year or within one operating cycle (whichever is longer). It includes acceptances, sundry creditors, advance payments, unclaimed dividends, expenses accrued. Thus, in nutshell, we can say liabilities the company expects to meet within twelve months of the balance sheet date are called current liabilities. Long Term or Term Liabilities : These are the liabilities which-are usually for more than one year and include all the liabilities other than current liabilities and provisions (see below). Secured Loans: It represents loans and advances from banks/subsidiaries/others raised by a company, after creation of charge on its assets. It includes 'Debentures'. Unsecured Loans: These are loans and advances (including short term) from Banks/ Subsidiaries/others obtained without creating any charge on the assets of the Firm. It includes fixed deposits received from public. Acceptances: These are bills of exchange accepted by the firms and generally known as," Bills Payable". In case of promissory notes it is referred to as "Notes Payable". Accounts Payable: These represents the debts of the creditors for purchase which is not evidenced by any formal acceptance as defined above. These are. also referred to as "Sundry Creditors". Accrued Liabilities: These represent the obligations accrued but not paid and shall be paid in the next accounting period. Provisions: When a liability cannot be precisely determined, it is estimated and provided for. Examples are provisions for dividends/taxation/PF/contingencies/Debts etc.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 119 Some other Terms relating to analysis of Balance Sheet defined : Net Sales: Whenever goods are supplied to the customers, these are recorded as sales in the company's account books. The sum total of such sales during a period is referred as 'gross sales'. However, some of goods thus supplied may be subsequently returned by the customers due to various reasons, e.g. the goods may not be strictly as per specification demanded by the customer, or these got damaged during transit etc. Such returns and allowances are separately accounted for and at the time of preparation of P&L Statement, the value of such goods are set off against gross sales. This is known as 'net sales' or "Sales". Cash Discount / Sales Discount / Trade Discounts: Some companies, with a view to" boost early" realisation of receivables, allow some discount, e.g. an entity may specify that if their bills are paid within 15 days, 5% discount will be allowed. This is called "Cash Discount" or "Sales Discount". Some companies agree to sell the goods at a price lower than the normal price provided the customer agrees to buy the goods in bulk. Such a discount is known as trade "discount" and is generally not shown in the P&L A/C separately, rather taken into account in the value of Sales. Other Income: Income obtained from the Business operations of an entity is called Operating Income and Income arising out of an activity which is not the business activity of the firm, are referred as 'non-operating income' or 'other Income'. For example, on sale of fixed assets an entity may be able to realise more than the book value of such an asset. This is called other income. Manufacturing Expenses: The expenses which are directly incurred on the production / manufacturing process (such as freight, factory rent, electric charges at the factory site, wages of labour in the factory etc.) are called manufacturing expenses. These are direct input costs incurred towards the product manufacturing. Cost of goods sold: It refers to the direct input costs of goods sold, and comprises of cost of the raw material and manufacturing expenses. It can be calculated as follows: Opening Stock + Purchases + Manufacturing Expenses - Closing Stock Gross Profit: It is the difference between sales and cost of goods sold. This represents the margin of profit at the point of production of goods. Operating Expenses: All the expenses which are not directly incurred on production, but are necessary to run the business, are grouped as "operating expenses". It covers all expenses relating to selling & distribution as well as general administration expenses (including personnel expenses) and indirect costs, such as depreciation. Depreciation: In case of fixed assets, usually a part of its life is 'being utilised in a particular accounting year, and thus a certain portion of its cost (depending upon the total expected economic life of the asset), is appropriated in the shape of "depreciation" in each accounting year The value of fixed assets at original cost is called "Gross Fixed Assets" and the value of the asset arrived after deducting depreciation is called "Net Fixed Assets". The two methods mostly used for calculating this expense are known as (a) Straight Line Method and (b) Written down value method or diminishing value method.

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 120 In the straight line method, the depreciation is arrived at by dividing the original cost of a fixed asset by its expected economic life. On the other hand, in case of the "written down value" method, the expiration is calculated every year at a pre-determined rate on the amount of the depreciated value (i.e. original cost - earlier depreciation charged) at the end of the previous year. Amorstisation: Depreciation and amortisation are almost identical. However, the expiration of the cost of intangible assets is referred as' 'amortisation, whereas that of a fixed tangible asset is called 'Depreciation'. What is a contingent liability? Where is it shown in the Balance Sheet? Contingent liability is a liability which may arise as a liability in future on the happening of some event. This is not an actual liability at present and therefore does not occur in the main body of the balance Sheet. Contingent Liability is shown as a footnote to the balance sheet. Some of the examples of Contingent liability are:- a) Claims against a company not acknowledged as debt. b) Arrears of fixed cumulative dividend on cumulative preference shares. c) Uncalled liability on account of partly paid shares in the investment portfolio

Current Liabilities • Creditors • Bills Payable • Bank Overdraft • Outstanding expenses • Income Tax payable • Advances from customers

Current Assets • Cash in Hand • Cash at Bank • Marketable securities • Bills Receivable • Stock and Trade • Accrued Income • Prepaid Expenses • Advances to Others

Non-Current Liabilities• Equity Share Capital • Preference Share Capital • Debentures • Long Term Loans • Profit & Loss (Cr.) • Share Premium Account • Share Forfeited Account • Capital Reserve • Provisions Like Provision for Tax, Dep. • Proposed Dividend • Appropriation of Profit E.g. transfer to General Reserve, Workman Compensation Fund, Debentures Sinking Fund, Capital Redemption Reserve etc.

Non-Current Assets• Building • Land • Plant and Machinery • Furniture and Fixtures • Patent Rights • Trademarks • Profit and loss Account (DR) • Discount on Issue of Shares and Debentures • Preliminary Expenses • Other Deferred Expenditure • Long-Term Investments • Goodwill


AN EXAMPLE TO UNDERSTAND BALANCE SHEET, CASH FLOW ETC.

Based on the following Balance Sheets of ABC company prepare a schedule depicting (a) changes in Working Capital and (b) Funds Flow Statement:-

Balance Sheet Liabilities 2004

Rs. 2003

Rs.Assets 2004

Rs. 2003

Rs.Share Capital Debentures Current Liabilities General Reserve PandL Account

4,50,000 3,50,000 1,50,000 2,10,000

70,000 12,30,000

4,00,0002,40,0001,20,0002,00,000_______9,60,000

Fixed Assets Investments Current Assets Discount on sharesPandL Account

7,20,000 1,30,000 3,75,000

5,000 12,30,000

6,10,00050,000

2,40,00010,00050,000

9,60,000 Additional information available to you is : (a) During the year depreciation charged on Fixed Assets was Rs. 60,000/-. (b) Machinery with a book value of Rs. 40,000/- was sold for Rs. 30,000/-. Solution :

Schedule of changes in Working Capital Particulars 2003 2004 Inc. Dec.

Current Assets A Current liabilities B Working Capital A - B Increase in working capital

240000

120000

120000105000225000

375000

150000

225000 225000

135000

135000

30000

105000135000

Funds flow Statement for the year ended

Particulars Amt. Particulars Amt. Funds from operation Issue of Shares Issue of Debentures Sale of machine

20500050000

11000030000

395000

Purchase of Investment Purchase of Fixed Assets Increase in working capital

80000210000105000

395000

Fixed Assets A/C

To balance b/d To Cash A/C (bal fig) (Purchases)

610000

210000

820000

By P/L A/C (Depreciation) By cash A/C (Sale) By P/L A/C (Loss on Sale) By balance c/d

6000030000

10000720000820000


Adjusted P/L A/C To balance b/d To Fixed Assets (Depreciation) To Fixed Assets (loss on sale) To tfr to General Reserve To Discount on share To balance c/d

5000060000

10000100005000

70000205000

By funds from operation

205000

205000 TYPES OF FORMATS of BALANCE SHEET UNDER INDIAN COMPANIES ACT : The Companies Act provides for two formats of Balance Sheet. One is the conventional 'T" format, wherein assets and liabilities are grouped in descending order of their liquidity. The other is the vertical format, which was introduced in 1979 on the basis of International Accounting Standards. So far as non-corporate entities are concerned, IBA, in collaboration with Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, evolved formats for Financial Statements which were later on approved by RBI.


The Balance Sheet

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS INCLUDING BALANCE SHEET

Financial Statements : There are four basic financial statements that provide information needed by financial analysts to evaluate a company. These are :-:

The Income Statement / Profit and Loss Account The Funds Flow statement The Cash Flows Statement

Moreover, , a company's annual report is almost always accompanied by "Notes to the financial statement". What is Analysis of Financial Statements : Analysis of financial statements is a study of relationships among the various financial factors in a business. Through analysis an attempt is made to determine the meaning and significance of financial statement data so that the forecast can be made in respect of future earnings, profitability etc. However, the results arrived on the basis of analysis of such statements has its own limitations. Advantages of Financial Analysis : (a) To know the earning capacity of the entity : Financial analysis helps in ascertaining whether sufficient profits are being earned on the capital invested in the business or not. Moreover, it also helps us to know whether the profit is increasing or decreasing. (b) To know the solvency of the entity : Analysis of the financial statements discloses whether the business is in a position to pay its short-term and long term liabilities in time. (c) To know the financial strength : It also discloses the total position of the business regarding its goodwill, internal finance system etc. (d) Comparative study with other firms : The comparative study of the profitability of various firms engaged in the same industry can be done to study the position of the firm in respect of sales, profitability etc (e) Capability to pay interest and dividend : The analysis also helps to assess whether the entity will have sufficient profits to pay the interest in time and whether it has the capacity to pay the dividend in future at a higher ratio. Limitations of Financial Analysis :- (1) Limitations of financial statements :- Financial statements have their own limitations and thus the analysis done on the basis of such statements will also suffer from inadequacies. Moreover, the financial statements record only those events that can be expressed in terms of money. Qualitative aspect like cordial management-labour relations, efficiency of management and more which may have a vital bearing on the firm's profitability are ignored. (2) Affected by window dressing : Most of the firm resort to window dressing and try to cover their weak points so that they do not face problems with their bankers and shareholders etc. It is common practice by firms to overvalue their closing stock and

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 124 hence the result obtained based on such analysis are misleading. (3) Different accounting policies : Firms adopting different accounting policies may not have the result which may be comparable. For example, the method of valuing closing stock of two firms may differ and thus the comparision of such results will be wrong. Techniques of Financial Statement Analysis : These are broadly classified into three categories, namely :- i) Cross Sectional Analysis or Inter firm comparison. ii) Time series Analysis or Intra comparison. iii) Cross Sectional-cum-time series analysis. Cross Sectional Analysis : Under this technique of analysis, financial statements of one firm are compared with financial statements of one or more other similar firms for profitability, solvency, liquidity, credit worthiness etc Thus, under this technqiue we prepares the comparative financial characteristics of an enterprise with other comparable enterprises. Time Series Analysis : This reflects the movement of various financial characteristics over a period. Under this technqiue, the financial characteristics of a firm are compared over a number of years so as to know the directions in which the firm is moving. Cross Sectional-cum-Time Series Analysis: This is the most effective approach of financial statement analysis and compares the financial characteristics of two or more enterprises for a defined accounting period.

RATIO ANALYSIS

A ratio can be defined the relationship between two or more variables. In finance these variables are taken from the balance sheet or profit or loss account. Ratio Analysis is one of the most widely used tool for the analysis of financial statements of a business entity. Ratios are usually expressed in various mathematical terms such as percentage, no. of times, or in numbers & compared with some standards. Ratio analysis does not merely mean the calculations of ratios. It actually refers to the comparing of different numbers from the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statements so as to arrrive at certain conclusions. The comparison of such ratios can be of similar ratios of two or more different companies or against the same ratios of the same entity. Ratios of a company may also be compared with same ratios of the industry or economy. Such comparison gives us a meaningful idea as to how the entity has performed in the past and what are its potential in the future. Thus, we can say that ratio analysis helps in meaningful summerisation of large number of financial data to provide a qualitative judgement about the financial performance of a business entity. BROAD CATEGORIES OF RATIOS :The ratios are generally classified into four groups, namely:- (a) Liquidity Ratios - These ratios indicate the ability of the entity to maintain the short term liquidty for discharing the current liabiites. A company is expected to have sufficient short term liquidity so that it can meet its current obligations. In case it fails to meet its current obligations, it loses creditors' confidence and is always threatened by

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 125 short term insolvency. Such a situation can even lead to closure of the unit itself. Some of the frequently used ratios which fall under this category are (i) Current Ratio (ii) Quick Ratio and (iii) Working Capital Turnover Ratio. (b) Activity Ratios - These ratios indicate operational efficiency of the entity in utilising the available resources. In other words, we can say that these ratios measure the efficiency of the entity in using the available funds, especially the funds raised on short term basis. These ratios help banker to ascertain the working capital need of the entity. Some of the important activity ratios are (i) Inventory turnover; (ii) Debtor turnover; (iii) Fixed assets turnover; (iv) current assets / working capital turnover. Activity ratios indicate the efficiency of a business organisation in utilisation of funds, particularly funds of short term nature. (c) Solvency Ratios / Leaverage Ratios - These ratios indicate proportion of debt vis-a-vis equity, whcih in turn points towards the long term solvency of the entity. Some of the important solvency ratios are (i) Debt-Equity ratio (ii) Debtor service coverage ratio (d) Profitability Ratios - These ratios indicates the capacity and efficiency of the firm to generate profit and surplus out of the main business. Some of the important profitability ratios are (i) Return on Equity; (ii) Return on investment or capital employed etc. LIQUDITY RATIOS :

Type of Ratio How to Calculate Remarks

Current Ratio

Current ratio is calculated by dividing current assets by current liabilities. Therefore, Current Ratio= Current Assets / Current liabilities Here current assets refers to cash and those assets which can be converted to cash within a period of one year, whereas current liabilities are liabilities that are to be discharged within one year. Current assets should be reasonably higher than current liabilities to take care of the firm's short term liquidity. Current ratio represents margin of safety for creditors.

As per RBI stipulation, the minimum current ratio of a firm should not be less than 1.33:1 However, banks consider current ratio of 2:1 as satisfactory. Usually, higher current ratio is desirable but unreasonable high current ratio is undesirable as it brings down the profit of the unit due to inefficient use of current assets.

Quick Ratio / Acid Test Ratio

The quick ratio is the ratio between quick current assets and current liabiliites. The quick assets include cash / bank balances + receivables upto 6 months + quickly realisable securities such

Although current assets are considered to be liquid in nature, but certain assets like inventory, prepaid expenses, unquoted shares etc. may not be that liquid. Thus, such assets may not be available for paying off


as government securities or quickly marketable / quoted shares and bank fixed deposits. Thus, quick ratio = quick assets / current liabilitiesThe other way to calculate quick ratio is to divide all liquid assets by current liabilities. Quick ratio = Current Assets - Inventory & Prepaid expenses / current liabilities.

liabilities of urgent nature immediately. So to measure the short term liquidity more accurately quick ratio is used where the assets which are not very liquid are deducted from current assets. A ratio of 1:1 is considered to be satisfactory as cash yield from most liquid assets can be used for discharging current liabilities. It is also called Acid Test ratio.

Working Capital Turnover Ratio

The ratio is calculated by dividing net sales by working capital employed in the firm. Working Capital Turnover Ratio= Net Sales / Total Working Capital

This ratio indicates how efficiently the liquid funds in the business are utilised to achieve the sales level. A good ratio shows efficient use of working capital. But very high ratio indicates the case of overtrading where the sales of business is increasing / expanding without corresponding increase of working capital / liquid resources.

Net Working Capital

Strictly speaking it is not a ratio, but a concept popular among the Bankers for calculation of working capital requirement of a firm. It is calculated in the following two ways :- Net Working Capital = Long term sources - long term uses Net working capital = Current assets - current liabilities

Net working capital indicates the absolute liquidity that is available in the entity. This is considered as margin by banker for considering the working capital loan to the entity. When the current assets of a firm increase there should also be corresponding increase of NWC to maintain the liquidity. Current ratio shows the overall liquidity position, but firms are able to manipulation this ratio. However, it is difficult to manipulate the NWC.

ACTIVITY RATIOS :


Inventory Turnover

It is calculated by dividing cost of goods sold by Average inventory. Inventory Turnover = Cost of goods sold / Average inventory. Cost of goods can be calculated by deducting the gross profit from the Net sales;

This ratio shows as to how many times the inventory turnovers / rotates in a year. This ratio is important especially for bankers as it helps them to assessing the working capital need. A high ratio suggests lower level of inventory, indicating lesser probability of stock becoming obsolete or unsaleable. It also indicates better inventory control and financial management of the unit A low ratio on the other hand indicates


Average inventory is calculated by dividing (opening stock + closing stocks) by 2.

sluggish business or poor inventory control. This increases the chance of obsolete and unsaleable stocks.

Debtors Turnover Ratio

Debtors Turnover Ratio = Annual Credit Sales / Average Debtors. When the annual credit sales is not available, ratio can be calculated by using net sales of the firm

The ratio shows the rotation of debtor in a unit. A higher ratio indicates the quick realisation of debtors and less likelyhood of doubtful debts. A lower ratio indicates extended credit period, which can be due to poor realisation of debt or can be due to conscious policy of firm to extend credit for achieving higher sales. .

Creditor Turnover Ratio

Creditors Turnover Ratio = Annual Credit Purchases / Average Creditors

This ratio indicates as to how fast the firm pays its trade creditors. An increasing ratio indicates that the firm is paying the creditors quickly. However, it can also be due to low creditors level which may be due to poor creditworthiness of entity. A decreasing ratio indicates higher creditworthiness of party among creditors resulting in lesser dependence on bank credit. However, the decreasing ratio may be due to inability of the entity to pay its creditors timely.

Fixed Assets Turnover Ratio

Fixed Asset Turnover Ratio = Net Sales / Net Fixed Assets

This ratio indicates as to how efficiently the fixed assets are being used by entity for generating sales. An increased trend indicate better utilisation of fixed assets whereas a low ratio is due to poor utilisation or over investment in fixed assets.

SOLVENCY / LEVERAGE RATIOS :


Debt Equity Ratio

Debt Equity Ratio is calculated by dividing total long term liabilities by Tangible Net worth Debt Equity Ratio= Long Term Debt / Tangible Net Worth Here, all long term liabilities are considered as long term debt. The tangible net worth refers to the sum total of capital and reserves and surplus net of intangible assets. For calculation of TNW, reserves refers to free reserves

A lower ratio indicates the higher stake of the promoters in the entity . However, the higher ratio indicates that firm is more dependent on outside long term iabilities. Normally, bankers do


created out of profit not those created for meeting specific liabilities or revaluation reserve..

not accept the debt equity ratio more than 2:1.

Debt Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR)

DSCR = (PAT+Depreciation+Interest on Long term Debt)/(Yearly repayment of long term debt+interest on long term)

The debt service coverage ratio indicates the ability of the firm to generate cash accruals for repayment of instalment and interest. DSCR provide a basis for fixation of repayment schedule. DSCR of 2:1 and above is usually considered satisfactory by bankers.

Total Indebtedness Ratio

Total indebtedness Ratio = (Total Term Liability+Total Current Liability) / (Tangible Net Worth)

This ratio is considered as an extension of Debt-Equity Ratio as iit includes the effects of shortterm debt of firm also. A lower ratio indicates the lesser dependence of firm on outside liability, both long term as well as short term.

PROFITABILITY RATIOS


Gross Profit Ratio Gross Profit Ratio = (Gross Profit / Net Sales) X 100

This ratio shows the gross profit margin available to unit or efficiency of the firm in producing each unit of product.The ratio indicates the average spread available between cost of sales and sales revenue. A higher trend may be due to : a) higher sales price b) lower cost of sales .

Operating Profit Ratio

Operating Profit Ratio= (Operating Profits / Net Sales) X 100

This Ratio indicates the margin of profit on sales/operations, indicating the operational efficiency of a unit. Sometimes, profit of a unit includes profit from secondary activities and are actually not sustainable in long term. This this ratio indirectly shows the viability of main operation in long run.


High ratio indicates good competitive operational strength of the firm.

Net Profit Ratio

Operating Profit Ratio= (Profit After Tax / Net Sales) X 100

This ratio indicates a relationship between Net Profit and sales. Higher ratio indicates good net profit margin and indicates the firm's capacity to withstand adverse conditions.

Return on Investment(ROI) / Return on capital employed

ROI = (Profit before Tax and Interest / (Tangible Net Worth+Term Liability)) X 100

The ratio indicates earning power of the investment made on long term basis and whether return is commensurate with the investment

Return on Asset (ROA)

ROA = (Profit before Tax and Interest / (Total Tangible Assets)) X 100

This ratio indicates the return on the assets and their capacity to generate revenues for the unit

Return on Equity(ROE) or Shareholder's fund

ROE = (Profit After Tax/Net Worth) X 100The capital includes the original capital plus all the retained profit and reserves.

This ratio indicates the earning capacity of the capital or equity of the proprietors / shareholders. It is quite important from the shareholders point of view as while taking the investment decision they will like to know the return on equity so as to maximise their wealth which will be indicated by this ratio.


FUND FLOW STATEMENT AND CASH FLOW STATEMENT FUNDS FLOW STATEMENT :The funds flow statement is also referred as the "statement of changes in financial position" or "statement of sources and uses of funds". This statement depicts the sources of funds and application of funds during a period. Very broadly, funds are defined as total resources. Most commonly, however, funds are defined as working capital or cash. The items of funds for statement of changes in financial position are as follows :- A). Long term sources:- Net profit after tax - Depreciation - Increase in capital - In crease in term liabilities. - Reduction in fixed assets or other non current assets. - Decrease in inter - corporate investments and advances. B). Long term uses:- Net Loss - Decrease in Terms Liabilities - Increase in fixed assets or other non current assets - Dividend payments or drawings by partners or tax payments others. C). Short term sources:- Increase in short term bank borrowings. - Increase in other current liabilities. - Decrease in inventory. - Decrease in receivables - Decrease in other current assets D). Short term uses:- Decrease in short term bank borrowings - Decrease in other current liabilities. - Increase in inventory. - Increase in receivables - Increase in other current assets. Fund Flow Statement is studied particularly in reference not only to know the source and uses of fund but also to see wheather short term sources are used to finance long term uses, which is technically known as diversion of fund. CASH FLOW STATEMENT :Cash Flow Statement depicts changes in cash position from one period to another. This Statement shows how the company is paying for its operations and future growth, by detailing the "flow" of cash between the company and the outside world. The positive numbers shows that cash is flowing in, whereas negative numbers show that cash is flowing out. Cash flow shows the steady flow of money in and out of an organization, or the amount of cash that a business enterprise earns and holds during the financial period. However, Cash Flow doesn’t report the profit & loss of the company and is merely an indicator on

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 131 the movement of cash in an organization and it helps in maintenance of day-to-day accounts. Two major fields of Cash Flow are ‘Cash Inflow’ and ‘Cash Outflow', which refers to the following: - a) Cash Inflow refers to the money that flows in to the organization in the shape of sales, investments, borrowings and advances. b) Cash outflow refers to all the money that is paid out in the shape of of procurement costs, operation costs, staff salaries and other miscellaneous expenses Cash generated from Business operations and Cash generated from investments are shown separately and these two terms refers to the following :- Cash from Business Operations: Revenue that is generated from the sale of company’s products or usage of its service on a day-to-day basis makes up for cash from Business operations in the Cash flow statement. Basically it’s the cash that end consumer gives to the company in return of its product or service. Cash from Investments: Organizations also invest in equity shares and various other investment instruments. Cash generated from these activities and also from acquisition of other companies refer to cash from Investments. Some of these activities are also posted as negative cash outflow as to make investments, money flows out of the organization. Cash Flow Statement is considered as a tool to plan the short term liquidity position. The cash flow statement actually helps the management of the business to ascertain as to how much cash is needed to meet its due obligations and when it will be available. This also helps the entity in investing the surplus cash in profitable business. Sources of cash:The sources are generally grouped into categories, namely (a) internal source of cash e.g , net profit, depreciation, writing of the assets, gain or loss from sale of fixed asset and transfer to reserves; (b) external source of cash : e.g., increase in capital, increase in term liabilities, reduction in fixed assets or othe( non current assets, decrease in inter corporate investments and advances, increase in short term bank borrowings, increase in other current liabilities, decrease in inventory and receivables and decrease in other current assets. Uses of cash:- Net loss. - Decrease in term liabilities. - Increase in fixed assets or other non - current assets. - Incre&se in inter - corporate investment or advances. - Dividend payments or drawings or tax payments. - Decrease in short term bank borrowings. - Decrease in other current liabilities. - Increase in inventory and receivables. - Increase in other current assets. How does a "Funds Flow Statement" differs from "Cash Flow Statement" ? The major difference between Funds Flow Statement and Cash Flow Statement can be listed as follows :-:

Banking Topics of Interest 2010.doc Page: 132 1. Basis of Analysis

(a) Funds flow statement discloses the causes of changes in working capital funds (a) Cash flow statement discloses the causes of changes in cash position.

2. Usefulness

(b) Funds flow is useful for long term financial planning. (b) Cash flow is useful for short term financial planning.

3. Difference in preparing

(c) Funds flow shows an increase in a current liability or decrease in current assets as decrease in working capital and vice versa. (c) Cash flow shows an increase in current liability or decrease in current asset as increase in cash and vice versa

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